Sovereign Capital, a UK private equity firm, has acquired Sterling Homecare as the first bolt-on for its domiciliary care provider City & County Healthcare.
Based in Blidworth, Nottinghamshire, Sterling provides approximately 7,000 hours of care per week to the elderly in their own homes, under contract to local authorities, primary care trusts and a number of private clients.
Each of Sterling’s five branches across Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are rated “good” by the Care Quality Commission.
Together, Sterling and City & County Healthcare’s operating brands create the fifth largest provider of domiciliary care in the UK. The group now employs 1,800 staff across 18 branches, including 1,680 care workers, assisting elderly people with their everyday tasks and enabling them to receive care at home in their later years.
Since investing in City & County Healthcare (formerly London Care) in September 2009, Sovereign has augmented the management team through the appointment of Craig Rushton as chief executive. Rushton was previously chief executive of Healthcare Australia, the largest commercial domiciliary care business in Australia.
The Sterling management team, led by Stuart Carlton and Debbie Woolley, will work alongside Rushton to integrate the businesses and continue to grow the regional customer base.
Dominic Dalli, partner at Sovereign, says: “We are delighted to be able to expand City & County Healthcare’s geographic reach through the acquisition of Sterling. In doing so, we are pleased to be able to satisfy both the ongoing outsourcing drive by local authorities, whose commissioners recognise the benefit of domiciliary care as a lower cost alternative to residential elderly care in most instances, and the personal preference for end user clients to stay in their own homes.”
Rushton adds: “We are pleased to welcome the team at Sterling to the group and look forward to working with them to take advantage of the significant tender opportunities available to build on their impressive growth in the Midlands.”
