Sitting on your hands is no longer an option for operators that want to stay ahead of the competition, says Bolton Clarke’s Steve Muggleton.
The Not For Profit provider has acquired two groups in the last 12 months – Acacia Living and Allity – taking its national workforce to over 10,000 staff, and its clientele more than 6,800 aged care residents, 3,000 retirement living residents and 130,000 home care clients.
Stephen says both acquisitions are about investing in the future and growth.
Not For Profit Acacia Living had a strong foothold in Perth with three aged care homes, seven retirement villages, two respite centres and a significant range of home care services, the same mix of residential care, home care and retirement living services as Bolton Clarke.
On the other side, private operator Allity was formed by Archer Capital after it acquired the Lend Lease portfolio in NSW and Victoria and the ECH portfolio in Adelaide with 44 aged care homes and over 3,800 beds across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.
“They were both high quality providers delivering care in markets we wanted to expand into. We have been patiently evaluating a number of opportunities against criteria like location, competition, a strong quality and compliance record, and some less tangible but critical elements like culture and strength of the management teams.”
The close timing of the acquisitions was just chance, Stephen added.
“Over the past five years we have passed on more than 80 opportunities to acquire nursing home, retirement village and home care portfolios that were being offered for sale,” he said.
“Both were presented in the same year and matched all our selection criteria.”
“These latest acquisitions complete our plan to create a national platform that will enable us to scale sustainably and meet growing demand,” said Stephen. “In many ways they are foundation stones to future growth.”
Read the full story in this week’s Mergers and Acquisitions issue of SATURDAY, in your inbox at 6am, Saturday 19 March. SATURDAY is moving to subscription-only from 2 April – subscribe HERE for full access.
