Carlyle Group buys UK retirement homes group Beechcroft
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has acquired UK retirement homes group from Alchemy Partners for an undisclosed sum.
The US investment giant’s €540m Carlyle Europe Realty fund invested in Beechcroft, which owns a portfolio of homes in Greater London and South East England.
Founded more than 35 years ago, Beechcroft covers the entire development value chain including site sourcing, design and planning, construction and sales.
Chris Thompson, managing director of Beechcroft said: “We believe there is huge potential for growth within the UK retirement market. Beechcroft has capability and experience across private housing for the elderly as well as in mixed-use / mixed-tenure schemes.”
The Carlyle Group said the acquisition represents a constinuation of the fund’s investment strategy of focusing on properties “underpinned by demographic trends.”
The senior demographic is forecast to grow significantly faster than the rest of the UK population and low-care senior housing developments have proved resilient.
Anssi Halonen, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team said: “We believe this acquisition represents an excellent entry point into the low-care UK senior housing sector, an area which benefits from strong demographic trends and an increased demand in a COVID-impacted environment.”
Private equity interest in the senior housing sector has picked up again in recent months. Last week US firm Lone Star announced it had struck a £630m deal to buy retirement homes builder McCarthy & Stone.
Lone Star Europe president Donald Quintin said it represented an “attractive opportunity in a market underpinned by clear fundamentals: a rapidly ageing population and a structural undersupply of suitable housing options for older people.”
The developer had been the subject of takeover rumours following stakebuilding by UK private equity firm Alchemy Partners.