24th Dec 2007 07:01
Southern Cross Healthcare Grp PLC24 December 2007 Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC Completion of £22m divestment of freehold interest in 4 care homes Monday, 24 December 2007 - Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC (LSE: SCHE)('Southern Cross' or the 'Company'), the UK's largest care home operator,announces today that it has completed the divestment of the freehold interestsin four care homes for £22m in cash, these homes were acquired in September 2007for the same amount. The cash raised today will all be used to repay the bridgeloan taken out to acquire the freeholds. The freeholds have been sold to an existing landlord and this is in line withthe Company's successful asset light growth strategy whereby the amount raisedby the sale of the property offsets the original enterprise value paid for thehomes. The residual leasehold operating businesses are thus retained bySouthern Cross for a nominal consideration. Commenting on today's announcement, Bill Colvin, Chairman of Southern Cross,said: "We continue to grow using our sale and leaseback model and we are pleasedwith the continuing strong level of interest from landlords who wish to investin care homes operated and backed by the Southern Cross covenant." - ends - Enquiries: Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC Tel: +44 (0)1325 351100Bill Colvin, Chief ExecutiveGraham Sizer, Finance Director Financial Dynamics Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113David YatesDeborah ScottEmma Thompson Notes to Editors About Southern Cross Southern Cross is, in terms of number of beds, the largest UK provider of carehome services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services forpeople with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes forthe elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare andAshbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personalcare services and nursing care services for elderly people with physicalfrailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist servicesoperate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term careservices for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for youngerpeople with complex forms of challenging behaviour. Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well investedfacilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which itoperates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authoritiesin the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of theCompany's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with ahigh percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms.Occupancy levels in its core elderly segment are consistently in excess of 90%. This announcement includes statements that are, or may deemed to be, "forwardlooking statements". These forward looking statements can be identified by theuse of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates","plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparableterminology. These forward looking statements include matters that are nothistorical facts and include statements regarding the Company's intentions,beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Company'sresults of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth,strategies and the outlook on the care home industry. By their nature, forwardlooking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to futureevents and circumstances. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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