Octopus Real Estate provides loans totalling £26.3m to leading care home operator

By Bridging Loan Directory 5th July 2023

Octopus Real Estate, part of Octopus Investments and a leading UK specialist real estate lender and investor, has provided a total of £26.3m to support the development of two purpose built care homes.

The back-to-back development loans provided to Connaught Care last month will finance the construction of two state of the art care homes – one in Chichester, West Sussex, and the other in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Each home will have 80 beds with associated amenity spaces, including ensuite wet rooms for every bedroom.

The new loans will coincide with an existing relationship with Connaught Care.

Previously Octopus Real Estate (Octopus) has financed the development of Portsdown View, a care home in Bedhampton, which has recently opened and welcomed residents over the past few weeks.

To date, the Development Lending team at Octopus has primarily focused on supporting borrowers who operate in the residential and student accommodation sectors.

The latest care home development loans to Connaught represent an expansion of the team’s debt product offering into other key asset classes within the residential sector.

Outside of lending, Octopus Real Estate has a strong track record as an investor and landlord of quality care homes, with the £1bn+ Octopus Healthcare Fund (OHF) now having 100 homes in its portfolio.

Nick White, Head of Development Origination, Octopus Real Estate, commented:

“Octopus Real Estate’s investment team already manages over £1.8 billion of investments with a focus on care homes and retirement communities.

We’ve been looking into fully committing to the debt space in these markets for some time now; we know the demand is there for us to expand our offering further and provide a more joined-up approach for all our customers.

These loans demonstrate Octopus Real Estate’s commitment to funding a diverse development portfolio within the later living sector, and the partnership with an established and experienced team at Connaught Care represents a shared vision to transform care homes into spaces where residents can thrive.”

Seamus Halton, Chairman, Connaught Care, said:

“We are thrilled to deepen our ties with Octopus Real Estate with these two deals.

At Connaught Care, we are committed to creating a new generation of care homes that set new standards in service through the premium facilities available to our residents.

Our experience combined with Octopus’s track record in this specialist sector mean we are confident that these new care homes will serve as a testament to that commitment.”