Legal & General Property spends £25.2m on care homes

Legal & General Property (LGP) has purchased three care homes for £25.2 million from the Careplaces Fund.

The Careplaces fund is a healthcare property fund managed by Bridges Ventures in partnership with care home developer Castleoak.

Located in Stratford-upon-Avon, Kidderminster and Stansted, the properties are all let to national care home operator, Care UK, on 30 year leases.

In total the three homes provide 187 registered care beds. Having only recently been developed, the properties are purpose built to cater for elderly residents.

Continuing to participate in a growing range of housing and social infrastructure activities, the deal brings L&G’s investment into the care home sector to around £220 million.

Previous deals include the acquisition of 15 care homes let to Methodist Homes, the forward funding and purchase of a portfolio of five care homes let to Care UK, as well as another existing Care UK-operated asset, and a £51 million, 10 year debt facility to the LNT Group, the parent company to Ideal Carehomes.

Simon Ringer, Head of Property Funds at Bridges Ventures, commented: “This investment typifies Bridges’ strategy of investing at an early stage in sectors and locations where demographic changes and consumer needs are likely to increase the occupational demand for property, and where we foresee growing institutional appetite for investment products.”

He concluded: “With more institutions recognising the merits of investing in this sector, we are pleased to be able to crystallise these early returns for our investors.”