UK fund manager Octopus Healthcare has agreed to buy two care homes from The CarePlacesFund for £20.5 mln (€27.9 mln), representing a net initial yield of 5.4%.

UK fund manager Octopus Healthcare has agreed to buy two care homes from The CarePlacesFund for £20.5 mln (€27.9 mln), representing a net initial yield of 5.4%.

The two homes in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, and Diss, Norfolk in the UK were acquired from the CarePlaces Fund, a partnership between Bridges Ventures and Castleoak. In Decmber the fund sold three UK care homes to L&G for £25.2 mln.

Octopus Healthcare is the healthcare property investment and development division of Octopus Investments, which was set up following the acquisition of MedicX Holdings last year. Octopus has since raised €165 mln for a closed-end commercial real estate debt fund focusing on the UK market.

Bridges Ventures and Castleoak created CarePlaces to manage a £100 mln portfolio of care homes and address a shortfall in high-quality privately owned care facilities in the UK. Castleoak is a developer with over 20 years' experience in the sector, while Bridges Ventures LLP is a specialist fund manager focusing exclusively on sustainable and impact investment, with almost €500 mln of assets under management.

Simon Ringer, head of property funds at Bridges Ventures, said: 'CarePlaces typifies our strategy of investing in sectors and locations where changing demographics and consumer needs are increasing demand for property, and where we foresee growing institutional appetite for investment products.'

The two care homes acquired by Octopus Healthcare will both be operated by not-for-profit organisations. The Stoke Mandeville site is let to Freemantle Trust, while the Diss property is under construction and pre-let to Greensleeves Homes Trust. The sale is due to complete in July 2015 once construction work is finished and the tenant takes possession.