Allica Bank has delivered its first commercial mortgage within its recently launched healthcare division, enabling the purchase of a 21-room, Shropshire-based care home.
Hartlands Rest Home, a residential and dementia care home based in Oswestry, has been providing elderly care to the local community for over 35 years. The home has performed extremely well historically, providing high-quality standards of care to its residents, reflected in its consistent ‘Good’ ratings from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for all five categories (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led).
The loan – totalling nearly £500,000 – enabled the purchase of the company from its previous owner, who was retiring after running the home for its 35-year history, with the transaction completing in October. Allica said the new owner is a first-time buyer that has extensive experience in the care home sector, and they will be supported by the existing management and operational staff, who will continue to manage its day-to-day activities.
Anthony Newman, Specialist Relationship Manager at Allica, says the bank is extremely pleased to have been able to support such a promising business:
“We are delighted to be able to help our customer acquire his first care home,” he explains.
“Their experience in the care sector, combined with the care home’s long-standing and excellent regulatory performance and reputation in the community, made it a transaction we were keen to support. It’s fantastic, too, to see Allica’s new healthcare division able to make a mark so quickly.”
David Ward of Christie Finance, the firm that helped arrange the loan, added: “In a sector which is seeing many challenges, this transaction shows the appetite that exists to support both new entrants and existing operators in acquiring quality, well run and profitable care homes. We’re proud to assist such a strong borrower as they enter the market for the first time.
“Allica’s approach to this transaction is evidence of relationship banking doing its job of working with the customer to understand the requirement and is a testament to the real value that care specialists can bring to the sector.”