(London) – Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc (‘Aviva’), has acquired the freehold interest in a group of five care homes through its Lime Property Fund as it continues to develop its portfolio of high-quality long income real estate assets in the UK.
The five properties, located in Yorkshire and County Durham, provide over 380 en-suite rooms offering care for older people, including those with dementia. It includes Wetherby Manor, named by Knight Frank as UK Luxury Care Home 2018, and The Manor House in Barnard Castle, a finalist in the 2017 International Design Awards, run by the Society of British and International Design.
Aviva Investors has also confirmed an initial 35-year lease agreement across each property with Anchor Hanover, which has acquired operation of the care homes, previously owned and run by Hadrian Healthcare Group. Anchor Hanover is England’s largest provider of specialist housing and care for people in later life with eight homes rated ‘outstanding’ by the regulator, the Care Quality Commission. The leases include annual rental reviews linked to RPI.
The portfolio of properties included in the purchase are:
- The Manor House, Barnard Castle
- Wetherby Manor, Wetherby
- The Manor House, Knaresborough
- Oulton Manor, Leeds
- The Manor House, Harrogate
Savills advised Aviva Investors and Knight Frank acted as selling agent.
Kris McPhail, Fund Manager, Aviva Investors, said:
“The purchase of these properties further develops our strategy of acquiring robust assets alongside the presence of a high-quality tenant. This is key in ensuring that the Lime Property Fund is best-placed to provide investors with consistent, inflation-linked performance over the long-term, in a sector which continues to demonstrate sound fundamentals.”
Mark Greaves, Anchor Hanover’s Managing Director, Care Services, said:
“Both Anchor Hanover and Hadrian Healthcare are organisations which are committed to high-quality, person-centered care – and we look forward to these homes becoming a key part of our care home offering. The addition of these five homes will broaden our provision of quality care in the North of England.”
Chris Wishart, Director of Healthcare at Savills said:
“The compelling demographics which support the elderly care home sector, when aligned with the quality of the assets, profile of the tenant and the lease terms made for a portfolio suitable to the Lime Property Fund and an opportunity we were delighted to advise on”.
Julian Evans, Partner and Head of Healthcare, at Knight Frank, said:
“Hadrian Healthcare are widely regarded as one of the UK’s premier luxury care home providers. Their stunning facilities, operated by outstanding teams, makes for a tremendous opportunity for Anchor Hanover, and indeed, Aviva Investors.”
The Lime Property Fund is a long income real estate fund with a net asset value of £2.3 billion. It was launched in 2004 and has been consistently and independently recognised by MSCI/IPD as the most secure and least volatile fund of all funds open to investment in the MSCI/IPD quarterly universe, most recently receiving the ‘10 Year Absolute Return Award’ from MSCI at its Annual UK Property Investment Performance Awards. The fund has capital to invest and is targeting property investments that provide inflation linked or fixed rental uplifts let to strong tenants on leases of 15 year plus, cross sector, UK wide.
The business delivers investment management solutions, services and client-driven performance to clients worldwide. Aviva Investors operates in 14 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and the United Kingdom with assets under management of £331 billion as at 31 December 2018.