Blackstone is trying to buy Four Seasons Health Care, a £750m 15,000-bed care home group that has been put up for sale by Alchemy. If it is successful it wants to merge the operation with Craegmoor, which is owned by L&G.
But two other potential buyers have similar ideas. Electra, which owns a smaller care group called Ashbourne, is also trying to pull off an ambitious deal to buy Four Seasons and merge the two operations.
The third bidder is Allianz, one of the world’s biggest insurers, which has teamed up with a British partner.
If Four Seasons is sold it will result in a big profit for Alchemy, which owns the majority of the equity. The Four Seasons management stand to share about £30m. The biggest individual beneficiary would be Hamilton Anstead, chief executive of Four Seasons. Final bids are due by the middle of this week.
Analysts believe that after a period when nursing homes have struggled against rising costs and local authority cuts, the sector is poised for recovery. Against this backdrop, NM Rothschild has been appointed to sell Westminster Health Care’s £400m portfolio for 3i.