Real estate

McCarthy & Stone shareholders vote for £647m takeover deal

American private equity firm Lone Star Funds upped its bid for Britain’s largest retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone and the shareholders have accepted.

Dallas-headquartered Lone Star offered 120p a share, up from 115p. Contracts have been awarded for an extension to the Sunniside Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.

Procured through national framework provider Pagabo’s Professional Services Framework, national project and programme management consultancy Faithful+Gould, and construction firm Morris & Spottiswood will deliver an extension to the mental health facility, which is run by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.

The project – valued at almost £1.8 million – will see Faithful+Gould provide multidisciplinary services including initial design, and Morris & Spottiswood lead on the extension’s construction.

Karen Carter, regional relationship manager for the North at Pagabo, said: “We’re delighted to have been involved in the administration of this vitally important development of the Sunniside Unit’s mental health facility – a service that will help to support members of the surrounding community for years to come.

The Sunniside Unit provides inpatient admission, assessment, treatment and discharge planning to any patient within the Gateshead area who either has a diagnosis of a functional mental health illness (over the age of 65), are presenting symptoms of acute psychiatric distress and require assessment for diagnosis, or are presenting acute This now values the company at £647 million, up from £630 million for the original offer.

McCarthy & Stone said 79.94% of shareholders approved the proposal which had been recommended by the directors of the company. psychiatric distress and are in crisis where there are risk indicators of danger to themselves or others.

Lawrence Inkster, director of Faithful+Gould, said: “Time was very much the essence on the project and our position as Pagabo’s multidisciplinary framework provider has allowed us to assemble the team to hit the ground running. Our expertise within the healthcare sector and experienced team will help to bring to life the building’s extension and provide a space in which people feel happy, safe and supported.”

Matthew Wall, frameworks

In October, when the deal was announced McCarthy & Stone’s chairman Paul Lester, said: “We believe that Lone Star would provide a complementary partner for McCarthy & Stone’s stakeholders and along with manager at Morris & Spottiswood, added: “The turf-cutting ceremony really is a milestone moment for not only the client but the full delivery team, all of whom have shown amazing commitment to getting the project up and running in record time.

“This is our first direct award via the Pagabo framework, and it has demonstrated what a valuable and time-saving mechanism this procurement route can be when the full team commit to working collaboratively.”

Paul Swansbury, development and commercial works manager at the investment in the business that Lone Star can provide, will enable further improvements of its transformation strategy and allow McCarthy & Stone to capitalise on its growing rental and multi-tenure

Contracts awarded for hospital’s mental health unit

offering. QE Facilities, said: “This investment into local health services, such as what is provided by The Sunniside Unit, is a testament to our commitment to support surrounding communities as much as possible with both their physical and mental health. In what has been a turbulent year for so many, it’s never been more vital to support one another and so we hope that this brand-new extension will provide hope to so many for the foreseeable future and beyond.”

Work is now under way on site, with the extension due to completed by spring.