SAO PAULO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian pet retailer Petz has agreed to acquire dog potty pads manufacturer Petix in a 70 million-reais ($12.85 million) stock and cash deal, it announced on Wednesday, sending its shares sharply higher.

Shares in Petz were up about 6% at 17.76 reais in morning trading, making it the top gainer on Brazil's Bovespa stock index, which was up 1.5%.

Pet Center Comercio e Participacoes SA, as the company is formally known, said in a securities filing that Petix's shareholders will get 1,650,450 new common shares in Petz, which will also pay 24.86 million reais for a 49% stake in Petix.

Petz may also pay an additional 10 million reais if Petix achieves certain performance metrics in 2023, 2024 and 2025, it added.

Petix, which owns the SuperSecao brand in Brazil and the WizSmart brand in the United States, was founded in 2007 and had 2021 gross sales estimated at 135 million reais, Petz said.

Analysts at Itau BBA said the deal was "slightly positive" for Petz, noting it could be a good way for the company to boost its private-label initiatives by expanding its product offerings and exploring eventual efficiencies with Zee.dog, which was acquired by Petz in August 2021 for 700 million reais.

"Besides that, we note that Petix was already producing pads for Petz, so we see this acquisition as a means to locally verticalize the production process," Itau BBA said in a research note. ($1 = 5.4470 reais) (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, editing by Louise Heavens)