Australian pensions giant AMP has agreed to buy UK social care business Care Management Group (CMG), a chain of 190 with 2000 patients from turnaround specialist Court Cavendish. While the seller would not confirm the value of the deal, a report suggests the price to be around £200m. Court Cavendish, which also owns UK's largest care home chain HC-One, bought CMG 10 years ago when it was struggling with debt problems and a poor reputation. It turned over £85m last year and 98pc of its services are rated good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.
Chai Patel, founder of Court Cavendish, said the sale showed “you can actually have an investment in this sector and continue to do well both for residents and colleagues as well as investors.” The industry is currently waiting for a delayed government green paper which is expected to set out proposals for the future. Patel said social care providers continue to suffer from uncertainty over funding following a decade of austerity. “We are doing as good a job as we can but I wouldn't pretend that the funding environment is appropriate. There is a need for additional funding, partly to ensure we can provide the best care we can, but also to ensure our colleagues are properly paid.”
