London-based OakNorth Bank has provided a £9.4m loan to Care Concern Group, a UK care home operator for dementia and general nursing. The funding will see the group acquire Willowbrook Care Home in Birmingham.
Willowbrook is a purpose-built home with 75 units spread across two buildings and currently has occupancy rates of 99%, against 87% to 93% for the rest of the West Midlands.
The Care Concern Group has borrowed £40m from OakNorth Bank to support its expansion.
Manpreet Johal, chief executive of the Care Concern Group, said: “OakNorth has once again been incredibly supportive, working closely with Alpha Real Capital to ensure we were able to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to acquire a leading care home in Birmingham.”
“With this purchase, we’ll be able to provide an even higher standard for dementia and general nursing care facilities in the city and help reduce its 240-bed footfall,” he added.
Alpha Real Capital is an investment services group focused on income security from real assets. It invests on asset-backed income from real estate, infrastructure and lending. It has over £2bn of assets under management.
Deepesh Thakrar, senior director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, said: “The West Midlands’ supply of care homes is lower than most other regions in the UK which is why it experiences such high average occupancy rates. This deal represented the opportunity to once again support a brilliant business and management team who have been able to build a portfolio of over 80 sites with an average of 87% occupancy across them.
“This is a sector we understand and are keen to support more deals in, so it’s great to have a returning customer in the Care Concern Group,” he concluded.
