News that the private equity firm is looking to sell its stake in Australia’s largest home care provider is likely to grab the attention of many this week.  

Any deal will mark the end of one of the longest running private equity deals in the aged care sector.

Quadrant Private Equity purchased 50% of St. Ives Home Care in Western Australia – then one of Australia’s largest home care providers – from the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (RAC WA) for a rumoured $150 million back in 2016, rebranded it as Enrich Living Services.

In 2017, the firm joined forces with established NSW home care operators Sue Mann and her son Andrew (pictured) under the myHome care brand and kicked off a string of acquisitions including the purchase of PresCare’s home care service. 

In 2021, myHomecare acquired Melbourne-based self-managed HCP provider Let’s Get Care and its 9,000-plus Home Care Packages (HCPs), further establishing its dominant position.
Today, the group has over 20,000 HCPs in a market that is still relatively fragmented.

But despite its continued growth, plans to sell last year failed to result in a transaction.

So, will Quadrant and its partners find a buyer the second time around?

Volume everything in home care

There are a number of large, aged care providers that are likely to see synergies with their own portfolios and strategies.

myHomecare is a profitable business with an established workforce and clientele in what is a growth market. Given the likelihood that Plan B – increased consumer contributions in aged care – will be a reality within a few years, any acquisition will see the buyer leapfrog the competition.

Importantly, the myHomecare portfolio is well-established in a number of key geographic areas.

This offers the opportunity for a buyer to overcome the loss leaders that result from entering a new region. 

In home care, volume is everything – more demand enables operators to deliver more services such as physiotherapy and nursing care, making it less likely that clients will need to go to other operators, and be more competitive.

The other factor is workforce – a higher number of clients in a particular region negates the issue of travel times, ensuring staff are more efficient and can spend more time delivering care.

As we report in this issue, the rumoured sale price is around $400 million.

In a sector worth $10 billion a year – and growing – that has to be ‘rolled gold’.

SATURDAY: With the Aged Care Taskforce identifying care at home as its underlying principle – signalling that home care will form a key part of any new funding model for Australia’s aged care system – an established portfolio such as myHomecare should be in hot demand.