US private equity giant acquires Beechcroft

US investment giant The Carlyle Group has bought senior living developer Beechcroft from Alchemy Partners and highlighted the UK retirement market’s “huge potential for growth”. Equity for the investment came from the firm’s €540m (£480m) Carlyle Europe Realty Fund. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed. The fund focuses on properties “underpinned by demographic trends”. Carlyle said that the senior demographic is “forecast to grow significantly faster than the rest of the UK population, and the low-care senior housing segment has proven to date to be very resilient through the current environment”. It identified the opportunity to “further scale and expand the Beechcroft platform given the size and fragmentation of the senior housing market”. Carlyle also highlighted its capacity to cover “the entire development value chain”, including site sourcing, design and planning, construction and sales, as one of its fundamental qualities. Chris Thompson, managing director of Beechcroft, said: “With a rapidly ageing population and a structural undersupply of suitable housing options for older people, we believe there is huge potential for growth within the UK retirement market. “Beechcroft has capability and experience across private housing for the elderly as well as in mixed-use, mixed-tenure schemes. “This investment in the company will enable the Beechcroft team to seek to capitalise on the significant market opportunity on offer, which includes the areas of rented, shared ownership and discounted market sale housing for the elderly, as well as the development of our private housing and strategic land offerings, alongside our high-quality retirement schemes.” Anssi Halonen, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “We were attracted to Beechcroft given its high quality and resilient platform which covers all aspects of the development value chain. “We believe this acquisition represents an excellent entry point into the low-care UK senior housing sector, an area which benefits from strong demographic trends and an increased demand in a Covid-impacted environment.” Beechcroft was founded more than 35 years ago, and has a portfolio of retirement homes in Greater London and the South East. CBRE, Deloitte and law firm BCLP advised Carlyle, with Arrowpoint Advisory and Shoosmiths advising its management team. Rothschild & Co and law firm Macfarlanes acted for Beechcroft and Alchemy.   To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette