Homecare M&A Drivers
The UK homecare market has seen contrasting approaches from investors and acquirers in recent years.
Traditionally, local authority funded homecare services have been seen as less attractive to investors due to thin margins and rising staff costs, with private/live-in services and complex provision more sought after.
Complex homecare in particular has seen significant investment recently, with various private equity-backed operators such as Acuity Care Group (aka Bespoke Health & Social Care), Active Care Group and Routes Healthcare all maintaining a core focus on higher acuity care. Larger operators such as City & County have also grown significantly in the complex segment with acquisitions of specialist providers including Complete Care and Interserve Healthcare.
Whilst still seen as attractive, M&A activity on the private/live-in care side has been more limited, with Limerston’s Trinity Homecare remaining the most active acquirer as it bolsters its presence across the south of England.
The more unexpected development has been the ongoing consolidation of more “vanilla” homecare businesses by a handful of operators such as Cera and Clece Care. The rise of Cera has been particularly noteworthy, raising $320m in 2022 to support the continued expansion of the business. Cera plans to generate scale through multiple acquisitions, whilst deploying digital health technology in order to create efficiencies and increase margins. It will be fascinating to see if this approach delivers the desired financial results, in an area of the market that has otherwise struggled to deliver profits for operators.
Selling Your Homecare Business?
If you are considering selling your homecare business, we would be happy to produce a complimentary valuation report for your business. As a team of chartered accountants, we take a granular view on valuation, analysing the ways in which performance can be presented to achieve the optimum price.
Please get in touch by emailing info@eclipsecf.com for an initial conversation.
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