NEWS
Social care
Octopus Real Estate pays £100m for eight care homes Real estate lender and investor Octopus Real Estate is acquiring eight new care homes from developer, LNT Care Developments, for more than £100 million. In one of its biggest portfolio purchases to date, Octopus Healthcare Fund, managed by Octopus Real Estate, is acquiring five of the homes at practical completion and will forward fund construction of the remaining three homes over their 12-month build periods. The eight homes are located in Wombourne, Nottingham, Wakefield, Cannock, Kidderminster, Swadl i ncote, Redd itc h a nd Salisbury, and will all provide full en suite wetrooms and facilities. Once complete, seven care homes will be let to Ideal Carehomes and one to Elmfield Care, each on a 35year lease. Ideal Carehomes is an existing Octopus Real Estate tenant, while Elmfield is a new ‘LNT care partnership’ operator formed by LNT with Elmfield’s directors. Estate agent Knight Frank acted as selling agent for LNT Care Developments. Chris Wishart, director of origination at Octopus Real Estate,
said: “We are pleased to be working again with LNT, a developer with specialist knowledge in the sector, and of course with Ideal Carehomes, an experienced quality operator. Extending our relationship with both parties, in addition to Elmfield Care, is a key step in executing our strategy of funding modern care homes with robust fundamentals.” Dermot Callinan, group director of LNT Care Developments, added: “We pride ourselves on using the LNT Way to find the best sites
with continuously evolving build design to create efficiencies in the operational model, which in turn ensures high levels of profitability and regulatory compliance, as well as a homely quality care environment. We are pleased to have worked with Octopus Real Estate on a successful outcome and look forward to continuing our strong track record of care home development with a substantial number of sites in the pipeline.” Nick Kempster, healthcare agency and development at Knight
Frank, commented: “We are seeing an increased flight to quality from operators and investors within the elderly care sector, particularly as the pandemic has highlighted the undersupply of future-proofed assets and the need for further development within the sector. LNT leads the way in providing top-ofthe-range facilities and innovation with their developments, and we were pleased to advise them on the sale of the portfolio and facilitate a successful outcome for both vendor and purchaser.”
City and County Healthcare Group acquires Interserve Healthcare City & County Healthcare has acquired complex care business Interserve Healthcare from Interserve Group, including its service delivery brands Advantage Healthcare and Strand Nursing. Interserve Healthcare provides specialist care for adults and children living with a wide range of conditions in their own homes. It also provides a small amount of elderly homecare and agency services. Based in Telford, Interserve Healthcare manages care packages for customers across England, Scotland and Wales. As well as
HealthInvestor UK • December 2020
services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups, Interserve delivers a combination of selffunded, insurance-funded and casemanaged care services. In a statement City & County Healthcare said Interserve Healthcare fits with its strategy to acquire community care businesses to which it can add financial and technical resources to help growth. Interserve Healthcare adds to City & County Healthcare’s existing complex care brands ICCM, SCP Complex and Total Community Care.
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