Hong Kong tycoon eyes Four Seasons
HONG-KONG business tycoon Li Ka- Shing has been named as a potential investor in Four Seasons Healthcare, UK’s biggest care home operator, which is exploring refinancing options ahead of a debt repayment deadline later this year.
The debt-laden company is said to have attracted the interest of CK Life Sciences, a healthcare business owned by Li Ka-shing – who took control of Northumbrian Water last year – along with several other overseas investors.
A spokesperson for Four Seasons yesterday denied reports this weekend that it was putting itself up for sale, saying that the company was exploring equity raising options as it attempts to refinance nearly £780m of borrowings.
In recent months, the group has been sounding out shareholders and potential new investors who would be willing to inject fresh financing ahead of its debt repayment deadline in September.
“Our shareholders are very supportive. We have a high level of interest being shown in the group by potential lenders and by potential new investors,” he said, declining to comment on the names of the potential investors.
Four Seasons, which is being advised by Rothschild and Gleacher Shacklock, hopes to have a restructuring plan in place by May, and conclude a refinancing by July.
The company runs 500 properties with over 25,000 residents and became the largest UK care home operator last year after the collapse of Southern Cross.
It has been struggling with its burgeoning debt-pile since its takeover in 2006 by a Qatari-backed fund, which financed the deal almost entirely with loans.
Four Seasons’ management, led by Peter Calveley, struck a deal in 2009 whereby lenders, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, took control of the company in return for writing off about half its £1.6bn of debt.
CK Life Sciences was unavailable for comment.