US hedge fund H/2 Capital Partners will take over Four Seasons Health Care Ltd., Britain's second-largest care home chain, for an estimated £400 million, the Financial Times reported.
H/2 Capital Partners owns much of the chain's £730 million debt and is understood to have agreed to acquire about 185 of the group's freehold sites, the newspaper said.
It is also offering a financial guarantee to secure the running of the remaining 135 homes on leaseholds until the end of a sales process, the Financial Times said, quoting an earlier Sky News report.
The deal does not include the 24 more profitable care homes its private equity owner Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. is selling separately for about £200 million, according to the report.
The private equity firm paid £825 million for the company in 2012, but since then its financial performance declined, its underlying profits have halved and it has also sold some of its portfolio.
The Connecticut-based hedge fund has effectively been in control of the chain since December 2017 when Terra Firma defaulted on a £27 million interest payment.
Four Seasons houses 16,000 elderly residents in 320 homes and employs 22,000 people. It declined to comment for the Financial Times' article.
