VINCENT TCHENGUIZ, the Iranian dealmaker, has emerged as a key contender in the race to buy Paragon Healthcare, the residential homes company, for about £350 million.
Mr Tchenguiz, the brother of Robert, also a high-profile businessman, is thought to be in advanced talks with Duke Street Capital, the private equity owner of the 220-home chain. However, two or three rival bidders, including Fortress Investments, the US investment firm, are waiting in the wings in case the talks with Mr Tchenguiz fall through.
Mr Tchenguiz has also expressed an interest in buying the property portfolio of Four Seasons Health Care, the 440-strong care home chain currently up for sale. It is not known if he is still in the running for the Four Seasons portfolio, which is estimated to be worth close to £1 billion.
Paragon provides care for about 1,500 people with learning difficulties and has about 4,000 staff.
Duke Street bought the business in 2001 and has since acquired the specialist care home chains Thelma Turner Homes, Headwind, Home First and Foremost, and Carewest. These were merged to form Voyage, which caters for people with conditions such as eating disorders and complex behavioural problems and is now a division of Paragon.
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Mr Tchenguiz would fund the acquisition of Paragon with a mixture of cash from Consensus Business Group, his investment vehicle, and bank debt.
Vincent and Robert split from their joint £4 billion Rotch property in March 2003 after more than 20 years in business together. Rotch’s deals included the acquisition of 180 UK Shell petrol stations jointly with the Livingstone brothers in 2000. They sold the business last week to The Englander Group, the vehicle controlled by the millionaire property investor Eliasz Englander.
Robert now runs R20, which was part of the consortium that acquired Somerfield, the supermarket group, in October.
In addition to the property deals that have made his name, Vincent is working to build a £1 billion-plus portfolio of early-stage investments in environmental, technology, security and biotechnology businesses. This venture, called Consensus Community, will sit inside Consensus Business Group.