First step in the disposal program announced by the Clariane Group - signature of an agreement for the sale of the Berkley Care network in the United Kingdom
Clariane (CLARIA.PA - ISIN FR0010386334), today announced that it has signed an agreement for the sale of all its activities and assets in the United Kingdom to Elevation Healthcare Property, a UK investment fund specialising in healthcare real estate, managed by Elevation Advisors LLP, for a gross sale value of £207 million (approximately €243 million). The closing of this deal will take place in the coming weeks.
This transaction forms part of the plan to strengthen the Group's financial structure announced on 14th November 2023, under which the Company has undertaken to implement, from 2024, a program of disposals of operating and real estate assets as well as capital partnerships for an expected amount of around €1 billion in gross proceeds from disposals, designed to reduce its debt and financial leverage.
The network operated by the Group in the United Kingdom comprises 12 care homes acquired between 2020 and 2022, all of which, except for one, are owned outright. In 2023, this platform generated sales of £55 million (around €63 million) and EBITDA of £12 million (around €16 million).
The full net proceeds from this sale, after repayment of the real estate debt lodged in the UK of £38 million and the €90 million of real estate partnership with Predica in form of bonds redeemable in shares, will be used for the repayment of approximately €100 million of the Group's outstanding debt.
A provision of -€40 million for impairment has been recorded in the 2023 financial statements in respect of this transaction. This provision corresponds to the difference between the sale price and the acquisition value of the assets as recognised in the company's financial statements, principally driven by the unfavourable trend in real estate capitalisation rates over the period.
Sophie Boissard, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Clariane Group, said:
"The good conditions in which this operation was carried out testify to the quality of the work carried out by our teams to set up and develop the Berkley Care network. Elevation is a long-standing partner that shares our values and our commitment to social and environmental issues, and that will be able to continue to develop the business with the full association of local management team to the success over the long term.
With this first transaction, and the sale of 6 property assets in the Netherlands announced on 5th February, we are demonstrating our ability to rapidly implement actions to reduce our debt in order to strengthen our financial structure, in line with the commitments announced on 14 November”.
