Four Seasons Health Care

Four Seasons Health Care

Industry	Healthcare
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Number of locations	440

Four Seasons Health Care is an independent British provider of health and social care services. It owns The Huntercombe Group, a provider of inpatient mental healthcare and brain injury rehabilitation. Four Seasons, as it is today, was created by buying out smaller chains of care homes and rebranding them, as evidenced by the takeovers of Tamaris (formerly Quality Care Homes) and Bettercare.

Up until 1997 Four Seasons was a small operator working only in Scotland. The fortunes of the business were changed with the appointment of Hamilton Anstead as Chief Executive Officer. There followed a rapid expansion programme for the business which transformed it within seven years into the largest care home operator in the UK (it was subsequently overtaken). The business was attractive to many suitors and as a result it was sold for £775 million in 2004. Anstead ceased to be CEO in 2005.

The company was acquired in 2006 by Three Delta LLP, the investment fund backed by the state of Qatar, and further expanded. The acquisition was funded by debt which was readily available in a market where investors saw rising property prices and continuing demand for care for the elderly, much of it paid for by the public sector. However, the company was unable to pay its debts and with a downturn in the property markets was unable to refinance and the owners walked away, losing their investment.

Peter Calveley was appointed CEO in 2007 and his senior management team were left to resolve debts of circa £1.5 billion as a result of borrowings by its owners to buy the homes.

The Group completed a financial restructuring in December 2009, with lenders – banks and other financial institutions – agreeing to swap about £780 million debt for equity in the business, so becoming its new shareholders. Maturity of the remaining debt was extended to September 2012. Four Seasons was then trading profitably. Under Calveley’s leadership the quality of care performance changed from below sector average, to having 89% of its homes rated as good or excellent by the Care Quality Commission.