£15m World Cup Deadline!
Thomas Guise Solicitors, one of Worcestershire’s leading law firms recently completed a complex £15 million deal on behalf of care home clients, Lonsdale (Midlands) Ltd.
One of the owners’ requirements was that the deal should be finalised by midnight on the day of completion and before the start of the World Cup!
Lonsdale (Midlands) Ltd specialised in providing care for adults with learning difficulties across the West Midlands and was started in 1995 by husband and wife team, Nick and Christine Horton and a colleague. Nick had voluntarily helped children with learning disabilities since school, but had gone on to become a builder.
When the building industry hit hard times in the early 1990’s Nick decided to make nursing his full time career. He says, “I did get quite a bit of stick in the beginning from some of my mates, but I had always enjoyed caring and helping others and so turning this into my full time profession was not a difficult decision for me, even if I was the source of the odd joke or two for a while.”
Whilst at nursing college Nick met his future wife Christine, who was also a learning disability nurse, but the pair soon became disillusioned with the care offered by the NHS. In 1995 they decided to convert their first martial home into a nursing home. At the time Christine was pregnant with twins and these arrived prematurely in the February, amidst all the building work. The twins, Jacob and Elliott had to remain in hospital for four months, and throughout this stressful time Nick and his wife continued with their redevelopment plans.
The home was completed during the summer of 1995 and the first resident was welcomed in the September. By November of the same year the home was full. In 1996 the pair went on to open their second home and in the following decade the company grew in size, so that it now accommodates over 150 residents, offers supported living services and 24 day care places at its 17 locations.
Nick and Christine were approached on several occasions to sell their chain of homes and finally agreed to CareTech Holdings’ offer. The Horton’s felt that CareTech’s management style and philosophy best matched their own and this was something that was extremely important to the pair, who had built the up the company from scratch to an impressive £8 million annual turnover.
They were also keen to ensure the takeover caused minimum disruption to the residents and staff, who will quickly become integrated with CareTech’s 23 other sites in the Midlands and South of England, helping strengthen their position as one of the UK’s leading providers of learning disability services. Lonsdale (Midlands) Ltd who were represented by Thomas Guise Solicitors whose lead partner Wayne Thomas commented: “Any transaction of this size and nature is bound to be complex, and we were under strict instructions from Nick Horton to complete the deal before the start of the World Cup as he didn’t want to miss a single match. However, on the day of completion the transaction was finalised just a few minutes before midnight, with the help of selling agents Christie & Co and a few cups of strong black coffee!” “We were delighted with the way in which Thomas Guise managed the sale for us and really went the extra mile to conclude the deal within the set deadline – and I can assure you we were drinking something a little bit stronger than coffee once the deal was done,” admitted Nick.
Thomas Guise Solicitors have considerable experience in sales and acquisitions of this kind and have seen increasing consolidation over the past couple of years in the care home sector, with larger operators buying up smaller ones.
Their specialist team has assisted with many care home clients in similar transactions and this trend is set to continue.
For further details on Thomas Guise Solicitors and the services they offer please call Shelley Bonney 01905 723131