Anchor completes purchase of 24 care homes

Anchor has purchased 24 care homes from LNT Group, in a deal worth more than £100m.

Anchor takes on 24 of the homes previously run by LNT Group subsidiary Ideal Carehomes. Employees at the homes transfer to Anchor, as well as a number of support staff.

The homes, in the north and midlands, provide a total of 1,317 en-suite rooms for older people, including older people with dementia. The deal brings the total number of care homes operated by Anchor up to 114.

Anchor Chief Executive Jane Ashcroft said: "This deal represents significant growth for Anchor, in line with our business plan. It means we can provide happy living to many more older people. We are committed to providing a choice of great places and ways to live and are really pleased to be welcoming new residents and colleagues to the Anchor family."

Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of LNT group, said: "It is a pleasure to work with Anchor especially as they share many of our core values.  Having previously sold turn-of-key care homes to Anchor, we already have a well-established relationship which made the deal possible – we believe it to be the biggest deal of its kind since the financial crisis in 2008.  We had not planned to sell these homes but when the opportunity arose, I knew it was a perfect fit for all parties and would enable us to continue to grow our relationship with Anchor.”

Richard Lunn, Head of Care at specialist property adviser Christie + Co who brokered the transaction, comments: “This is a substantial deal and reflects an exceptional opportunity for Anchor to acquire the largest purpose-built residential-only care home portfolio in the UK. All the homes being purchased are freehold and were built within the last five years.”

LNT built Anchor's Buckingham Lodge care home in Aylesbury-(New Anchor URL TBC), which opened in April 2015 and Maple Tree Court in Kidsgrove-(New Anchor URL TBC), which opened in August 2015.