Australian aged care provider Estia Health has entered into a deal to acquire a portfolio of aged care homes and development sites worth more than A$100 million from Premier Health Care.
ASX-listed Estia Health (ASX:EHE) is under contract with Premier to acquire two operating homes in South Australia and two in Queensland, adding 409 residential aged care places to the Estia Health network. Estia Health has also contracted to acquire two development sites, subject to conditions, with potential to add another 160-179 resident places to its South Australian portfolio.
Led by Partner Andrea Wookey, Thomson Geer brought together a multi-disciplinary team of specialist practitioners across three States to assist with all legal aspects of the acquisition.
“We are delighted to have been able to help Estia Health achieve such a significant acquisition of premium assets,” Andrea said.
“We have worked intensively with Estia Health’s senior management team, its external financial advisors and with Premier’s lawyers over the last few months in conducting due diligence on these assets and negotiating this deal to ensure that our client’s commercial imperatives were met and within a relatively tight timeframe.”
Estia Health CEO Sean Bilton said in a statement: “These homes are of the highest quality and provide us with the opportunity to apply our proven commissioning skills in finalising their ramp-up. Each home has been built or refurbished since 2017 to the high standards that have come to be the mark of a Premier home.”
The legal team included lawyers from Thomson Geer’s Transactional and Regulatory Aged Care teams, together with Employment and South Australian and Queensland Property teams, comprising Partners Andrea Wookey, David Beer, Madeline Walsh, Mark Branagan and Chris O'Shea; Special Counsel Daniel Beikoff; and legal team members Kelly Murray, Melanie Barrett, Jared Billson, Stephanie Cogno-Maglieri, Chris Genockey, Ruth Thevathasan and Maxwell Wilkins.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to Department of Health & Aged Care approvals but Estia Health hopes to welcome the staff and residents of these homes into its family on 1 December 2022.