Octopus Healthcare raises £187m for care home fund

Octopus Healthcare, a leading specialist UK healthcare real estate investor, has raised £187m for its UK care home fund on the back of growing demand from institutional investors for the asset class.

The Octopus Healthcare Fund (“the Fund”) saw investment from both new and existing institutional investors, as it celebrated its first year as an ‘evergreen’ fund.

Ben Penaliggon, Director at Octopus Healthcare, said: “With the population of the over 85s expected to grow by 64% to 2.6m by 2031, the UK is facing a severe shortage of suitable housing for the elderly. There is demand for modern, high-quality care homes in the UK, yet supply is limited.

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“There is a huge opportunity for institutional investors to invest in this growing market and provide the capital needed to create suitable accommodation for the ageing population, while benefiting from the long term, inflation-linked income that the sector offers.

“The Octopus Healthcare Fund is driven by these changing demographic trends and a desire to create high-quality accommodation for the elderly. We are a specialist manager and we have the benefit of an in-house development team that provides a proprietary pipeline of deals.”

Launched in 2010, the Fund invests in modern, purpose-built, elderly care homes in the UK. It converted to an open-ended structure in 2017 following demand from institutional investors to increase their allocation to healthcare real estate.

The team behind the Fund has a 13-year track record investing in healthcare real estate. Octopus Healthcare has secured over £230m of transactions into the UK elderly care home sector over the last 12 months, through a combination of standing investments, forward fundings and forward commitment acquisitions. In addition to UK care homes, the Fund also has the ability to invest in specialist healthcare facilities.