Four Seasons up for sale

DEBT laden care homes company Four Seasons Health Care is to be put up for sale after lenders of its £1.5bn debt pile could not agree to a debt for equity restructuring.

Hatfield Philips, the “special servicer” of the company that was charged with finding an agreement between the lenders, confirmed yesterday afternoon that that it had not received all the requisite formal consents to implement the latest proposal by the given July 6 deadline.

“The special servicer will now focus its attention on pursuing an orderly and well-managed sale of the group, acting in accordance with its duties under the servicing agreement,” it said in a statement.

The Wilmslow-based company, worth around £800m, is expected to formally annouce that it is up for sale next week.

It needed all of its senior lenders and 75% of its junior lenders to agree to its restructuring plan by the end of Monday, but the required level wasn’t reached.

It is understood that the restructuring plan failed because the senior payment-in-kind PIK lenders that told the company two weeks ago that the latest restructuring terms were unacceptable, had not changed their position. 

At the time, the move was seen by insiders as a strategy to leverage their position with other lenders and get a better deal.

In January, Priory Group said it was interested in merging with Four Seasons, while Craegmoor Healthcare, which has 250 care homes and is backed by private-equity firm Advent International, has also expressed interest, according to reports.

Four Seasons, which looks after 15,000 people in 400 homes, had revenues of more than £400m to year end December 2008 with EBITDA over £100m.