After raising $73 million to invest in aged care, disability and social housing, Not For Profit social impact investment fund manager For Purpose Investment Partners has announced its first foray into residential aged care, acquiring three privately-run Melbourne aged care homes and revealing a familiar face as the Executive Chair of its new board.
For Purpose Investment Partners (FPIP) has revealed that it has signed agreements to acquire Victorian-based residential aged care provider Luson Aged Care and its three aged care facilities plus development land from the family-run operator.
FPIP was established in 2018 with the backing of $900 million from alternative asset manager M.H. Carnegie & Co to invest in projects that deliver positive social outcomes while providing investors with a financial return over the longer term.
The firm – headed up by Founder and Executive Director Michael Traill (pictured), a co-founder of Macquarie’s private equity business and Chair of the Federal Government’s Social Impact Investing Task Force – targets five key areas:
- Skills education
- Aged care
- Mental health
- Disability
- Social affordable housing
The acquisition will be held under a new Not For Profit provider – FP Aged Care Australia Ltd (FPACA).
While the acquisition price remains confidential, funds will come from FPIP’s Social Impact Fund I, the FPACA board and management and senior lender NAB.
Who is Luson Aged Care?
Luson is the third investment made from the Social Impact Fund I, following on from FPIP’s acquisition of specialist disability accommodation provider BlueCHP Housing and NDIS meal-delivery business Able Foods.
The acquisitions includes Luson’s three aged care homes, two in the Geelong region (Eden Park and The Vue) and one in Clyde North, 46km south-east of Melbourne (Bloom), plus a development site in Rowville, 27km south-east of the CBD, with development approval for another aged care facility.
You can check out Luson’s website here. As you can see, all three homes are marketed as boutique aged care and have either been built or significantly refurbished in the past five years.
The homes will continue to operate under the Luson brand for the foreseeable future, with CEO Nick Yannopoulos remaining in his role as CEO of the business.
Toby Hall to lead new Not For Profit board
The new acquisitions will also be overseen by FPACA’s board, which is chaired by former CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia and Mission Australia, Toby Hall (pictured).
Its other members include:
- Aged care consultant and former Quality Manager at Southern Cross Care VIC, Louise Greene
- Former General Manager, Residential Care at RSL LifeCare and Director of Operations at Calvary Health Care, Matthew Filocamo
- FPIP Executive Director and Director of home care provider General Homecare, Chris Yoo
“We are very excited to reach an agreement to acquire Luson, following what has been a multi-year process of looking at various aged care assets to find the right entry point for us into the sector,” Michael Traill said.
“The aged care sector has had a really tough time over the past few years and we believe that investors like FPIP have an important role to play as stewards of these crucial social assets going forward, ensuring residents get a great experience at an affordable price while also making sure that the business is run in a manner that delivers appropriate risk-adjusted returns for investors and attracts further capital to a sector which badly needs it.”
Retirement living on the cards?
Interestingly, FPIP has also indicated that it is open to investing in the retirement living sector in addition to residential care.
In a statement, FPIP said it is “pursuing an aged care strategy that focuses on expanding accessible but affordable offerings in independent living through to residential aged care.”
“Its mission is to develop a model of aged care that achieves excellent health and wellbeing outcomes for residents of all socioeconomic backgrounds, attracts top staff and enables residents to age in place with dignity and choice.”
Expect to hear more from this new entrant.
Watch out for our interview with incoming FP Aged Care Australia Chair Toby Hall in an upcoming issue of SATURDAY – subscribe here.
