Irish nursing home group acquired for estimated €33m

Irish nursing home group Beechfield Care has been acquired by the German-based IMMAC group for a deal estimated to be in the region of €33 million.

The deal, announced Friday, will see the Lioncourt Investment group exit the nursing home business having sold its stake in Beechfield. Lioncourt's other holdings include Valeo Foods and the Real Experience company.

David Andrews, the outgoing chairman of Beechfield and director of Lioncourt, said the group was "entering into an exciting new phase in its development. We are delighted that its new owners share the ethos of Beechfield in putting excellence in care at the centre of everything it does."

While in a relatively healthy financial position, for the year to the end of April 2016, Beechfield recorded an almost 40 per cent dip in pre-tax profits to €479,419 with turnover increasing to €13.4 million.

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Following the acquisition, the German group's nursing home holdings will include the Beechfield Manor, Glengara Park and Mount Hybla as well as the Beechfield private homecare service. All the nursing home properties are in south Dublin.

Elderly care provider

IMMAC, along with its sister company Antaris Healthcare, is an established provider of "elderly care services" across Germany and Austria and Friday's acquisition marks "the first step of a planned expansion programme by the company into the Irish market", it said.

"The Beechfield Care Group is an exemplary provider of elderly care in the Dublin region and an ideal fit for IMMAC as we enter the Irish market. We are excited about the opportunity of developing Beechfield as our platform for future activities in Ireland, " Marcus H Schiermann, the company's founder, said.

He added that Beechfield’s current chief executive, Sarah McMickan, will stay on after the acquisition. Ms McMickan said the deal was a “hugely positive” for Beechfield and leaves the group “ideally positioned for further development and expansion”.

"IMMAC and Antaris will bring their extensive experience from Europe both to the Beechfield Group and to the nursing home sector here as a whole," she added.