LG has scored a new client, advising healthcare company Caring Homes Group on a £600m refinancing of its business with Bank of Scotland.
LG fielded a team under corporate partner Hugh Maule (pictured right) and finance partner Charles Malpass advising Caring Homes on the refinancing, which has seen the company restructure existing debt facilities as well as taking on additional equity.
The company initially appointed LG as an ad viser around a year ago but the firm only won this deal, its first for the client, following a competitive pitch process last summer.
Bank of Scotland and its equity investment arm Uberior Ventures, which provided the equity for the refinancing, turned to Nabarro. The Nabarro team was led by banking partner James Dakin and corporate partner Warren Taylor.
Nabarro also acted for Bank of Scotland on a £160m refinancing package for Caring Homes in 2005 but on this deal the healthcare group turned to Davies Arnold Cooper for advice.
Caring Homes is a privately-owned venture with more than 100 care homes under management throughout England and Scotland.
The group focuses on niche healthcare markets including elderly care, learning disabilities and mental health.
Its latest refinancing comes as the care home market undergoes a period of consolidation. Late last year Eversheds landed a role opposite Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on Sunrise Senior Living’s $1.1bn (£542m) sale of a portfolio of 15 care homes. In the same month Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Freshfields were instructed on Three Delta’s £1.4bn acquisition of care home chain Four Seasons Healthcare from Allianz.
Malpass told Legal Week: “It has proved a busy sector over the current times. To a large extent it has been unaffected by the credit crunch and it is likely to remain that way, with a string of similar deals in the pipeline.”
Maule added: “With an ageing population, banks and private equity will continue to be interested in care homes. The sector has been very active in the last three years.”
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