U.K.-based Four Seasons Health Care to Sell 111-Property Senior Living Portfolio

Four Seasons Health Care, one of the largest senior living providers in England, announced it is placing a majority of its portfolio up for sale three years after its parent companies dealt with insolvency.

The company has tapped the services of agency and advisory business Christie & Co. to sell 111 care homes across the U.K. under the banner of the Four Seasons Health Care and Brighterkind brands, according to a press release.

“The launch of this sale process represents a key milestone in the group’s ongoing restructuring process,” the release from Christie & Co. noted.

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The properties employ about 10,000 people and house around 6,000 older adults, with the majority of homes comprising 40 bedrooms. A significant proportion of the homes for sale are purpose-built or have purpose-built additions, and almost half of them offer opportunities to expand.

The release also noted that the company’s have recovered well from the Covid-19 pandemic, and are now adding occupancy and driving rate increases.

The 111 properties represent the company’s “remaining freehold property portfolio and associated care home business,” according to Christie & Co.

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The sell-off, first reported by Sky News, comes on the heels of a March public meeting in which Four Seasons executives said they would consider all options to reorganize the company, including property sales.

Four Seasons Health Care Group Interim CEO Joe O’Connor said the company’s priority remains caring for residents while the properties are marketed for sale.

“The group will work closely with Christie & Co, potential buyers, and other counterparties, as well as all relevant regulators, to ensure that the sales process and the transition of care homes to new ownership is seamless,” O’Connor said.

Four Seasons fell into financial woes in April of 2019 after ownership by the Terra Forma Capital Partners led by financier Guy Hands since 2012, Sky News reported.

Sky News reports the insolvency of Four Seasons was the “biggest insolvency in the care homes sector since Southern Cross collapsed in 2011” in the U.K.

The sale comes as some American companies shift their operational strategies for the U.K.

McLean, Virginia-based Sunrise Senior Living announced last year plans to transfer management of all its U.K.-based care homes to local operators. And Welltower (NYSE: WELL) is working with real estate company Reuben Brothers on a RIDEA JV development program that the REIT said could “generate significant future growth opportunities through the development of the next generation of senior housing properties in the UK.”

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