Standalone family-run home Canberra Aged Care, which has been operating since 1982, has been sold to WA-based operator Hall & Prior for an undisclosed amount.
Director
Health Aged Care Confidential
Hall & Prior currently has 24 homes in Western Australia, including 16 in Perth, and 13 in NSW, including 11 in Sydney. The purchase of the 114-bed home will expand the operator's footprint to the nation's capital for the first time.
Health Aged Care Confidential (HACC) agents Phil Smith and Jeremy Dunn finalised the sale this week. They said the incoming aged care funding reforms are driving strong demand for smaller homes, and tighter regulatory requirements are putting pressure on smaller operators to sell.
"Given recent changes to the funding of Aged Care in Australia and the pending changes to the Aged Care Act, smaller facilities that are independently owned are in high demand from groups looking to consolidate the industry," they said in a statement,
"Increased compliance obligations are also motivating smaller operators, especially those that have been in the industry for a long time, to consider exiting."
HACC said more transactions on aged care homes are likely in the near term, with several other facilities under negotiation or available to purchase.
Anton Hutchinson, whose family operates Canberra Aged Care, told The SOURCE they have decided to sell now for a variety of reasons: the funding cuts the Coalition Government implemented under Scott Morrison as Treasurer "set the industry back 30 years" meaning the sector is not prepared for the ageing population; the pandemic also "hurt" the sector; the new requirements for boards to have a majority independent directors; and, finally, a recent accreditation assessment during which the operator of 37 years was told they are "not qualified" to run an aged care home.
The approaching implementation of long-anticipated reforms are seeing consolidation of the aged care sector gathering pace.
