Cross-border investors Formation Capital and Safanad are acquiring UK care home owner NHP for £477 mln (almost €610 mln).

Cross-border investors Formation Capital and Safanad are acquiring UK care home owner NHP for £477 mln (almost €610 mln).

NHP owns 273 nursing and residential care homes representing over 12,500 beds in the UK. The facilities are operated by HC-One, an NHP subsidiary launched in November 2011 to assume the operations taken over from Southern Cross Healthcare.

HC-One is the UK’s third-largest nursing and residential care provider, offering a wide range of services including dementia, nursing, residential and specialist care. The remaining NHP facilities are leased to third–party operators including Four Seasons Health Care and Care Management Group. NHP’s portfolio currently has an occupancy rate of over 88%.

The transaction stands out not only in terms of its huge volume but also its international nature. Formation is headquartered in Alpharetta, in the US state of Georgia, while its joint venture partner Safanad has offices in New York, Dubai, London and Geneva.

HCP, a New York-listed heath care property REIT, is providing a £394 mln loan facility to support the transaction.

The closing of the acquisition and funding of the facility is expected before the end of November 2014.