It looks like the leaders of the retirement village sector of the Noughties are ‘reforming the band’, with the formal return of Peter Inge (pictured in 2006) back in the village sector as a serious portfolio builder.
Pre the GFC only the private operators were active village developers, but the canny ones all sold out by 2007. (The Inge Family were the biggest winners with $600 million-plus from Macquarie Bank).
Strong and relatively young executives with real skin in the game, they were all very hands on and passionate.
Now the majority have quietly returned, aware that this is shaping up to be the Golden Decade for a sector that is no longer referred to as retirement villages, but as retirement living, and with demand far exceeding supply.
Consider these notables:
- The Knowles Family in Melbourne sold their 17 ARC villages to Stockland in about 2007 for $329M. They have also recently kicked off Sencia, their new retirement living business, and have two villages in advanced construction. They also own Arcare with 53 aged care homes.
- Jim Hazel has been a finance leader for the sector and major investor on and off in villages for 20 years. In addition to leading investors in two villages (Omega Communities), he has taken the $1 billion property fund ICAM into village acquisitions with four locations and more to follow.
- Mark Taylor and Tim Russell sold out of RetireAustralia in 2015 which they set up in about 2005 (as Meridian), and then set up Aura in 2016, now with six villages.
- Glen Brown also left RetireAustralia in 2016 and established Reside Communities, now with four big villages, including the significant Esperance at Hope Island.
- Phil Usher built the private aged care operator Tall Trees, selling it to Freedom in 2015, only to establish Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities, with its first site in Robina (QLD). He now has five locations in development.
- Another Phil Usher, the largest home builder in QLD, established Seasons villages in the early 2000s as a private aged care operation. He now has three operating this model plus another five that have transitioned to seniors rentals, with ongoing development on several of these sites.
- The Gannon Family sold out to Meridian under Tim Russell pre GFC, and then Tom Gannon (pictured) set out to create Gannon Communities with three villages and one land lease community.
- Derek McMillan is the odd man out, being the corporate executive leading Australian Unity’s village and care business until he resigned in 2017 to set up his own village business, Centennial Living, in 2019. He now has 11 villages through acquisition.
- Paul Browne moved through three village businesses before he built and sold Freedom villages to Aveo for $210 million. He then established LDK and now has three villages and a new 50% equity partner in Sydney’s Anglicare.
- Roger Kwok has been the steadiest of all the private operators from the Noughties – he has stuck with his business Arcadia Communities, based in Perth but also big in Victoria. He has nine villages.
- Ian Tregoning and Graham Hobbs purchased Living Choice in 2003 and have built it into the largest private village group with 12 big villages and one land lease community.
- John Stevens was one of the founders of the Glen Group, the major village developer to open the Central Coast (NSW) to retirement living only to sell out to Meridian in 2006. He recently formed Principle Living Group with home care pioneer Andrew Mann with the goal of building five retirement living communities.
- The Tulich Family have stayed the course since Maurice Tulich built his first Sydney village in the late 1990s, expanding to four villages and pioneering private co-located care. Leadership is now shared with daughter Bianca. In 2023, they sold three villages to BaptistCare but have just announced a $200 million new village and care development, also in Sydney.
- Simon Owen has been a career employee but with an entrepreneurial bent. He was first CFO and then CEO of the Hibernian Friendly Society which he changed the name to Aevum and listed it. He then went on to create Ingenia, listing it and building it to a valuation of $1.6 billion. Now he has joined listed Eureka Communities but with serious equity and a mission to repeat Ingenia’s growth.
- Gerry Karidis AM is a household name in property in South Australia. Karidis Retirement Villages has been building villages since the late 1990s and now has 11, including two in development, led by Gerry’s son, Peter Karidis.
- Gordon Pickard, another Adelaide property tycoon who funded Roxanne and Stephen Norris to build 11 big villages under the Lifestyle SA brand between the late 1990s and about 2007, with little activity since then.
- Peter (pictured), John and Damian O’Shea, the owners of Brisbane based Tricare that has nine villages plus 17 aged care homes. Tricare commenced 50 years ago by their father Paul and have been slowly building villages since the late 1990s but recently have been concentrating on aged care developments.
- John Heron (no picture available) started Auscare villages in Adelaide through acquisitions in the early 2000s and now has five in SA and QLD, as part of wider property investments with his sons. A willing buyer ‘at the right price’.
Two executives have ridden the retirement village wave across the last 15 years at least, and could be termed quasi entrepreneurs:
- Paul Burkett moved from Aevum and Stockland to lead Baldwin Communities for the family of village pioneer Tony Baldwin, and has quietly been building the portfolio back up to eight villages.
- Tony Randello joined Lendlease Retirement in 2005 and was responsible for a portfolio of 15 villages under the Retirement By Design brand. He led their development and M&A activity that grew the portfolio to approximately 60 villages. Following four years as Managing Director he moved over to Aveo as CEO in 2020, which continues to develop new stages of villages.
All these entrepreneurs are two decades older, wiser and cashed up. The next ten years are theirs for the taking.
