Local aged care sold to Baptcare

Aged care facilities Abbey Gardens at Warragul, Amberlea at Drouin and Heritage Manor at Morwell, owned and developed by Alliance Care Services Group, have been sold.

The three homes that accommodate 310 residents have been bought by not-forprofit aged care provider Baptcare.

Baptcare, that already has 11 aged care facilities in Victoria and Tasmania catering for more than 1400 residents including St Hilary’s Community at Morwell, will take over the three latest acquisitions on February 4 next year.

The sale price for Abbey Gardens, Amberlea and Heritage Manor has not been disclosed by the parties but would be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Abbey Gardens, the most recent of the Alliance Care Group’s developments that opened in November 2016, cost in excess of $20-million.

Notification to staff at Abbey Gardens, Amberlea and Heritage Gardens was given last Tuesday.

Alliance’s chief executive officer Ray Jacobson said the transition to the new ownerships would be seamless for residents and staff.

All residents would retain their places at the homes and would not face any additional costs because of the sale.

Continued employment would also be offered to the 435 current staff, Mr Jacobson said.

He said Alliance would continue to manage day-to-day operations until the sale was completed and residents would be comforted to know they would be cared for by the same friendly staff when the ownership transfers.

Executive chairman Mark Howes, who founded Alliance Care with Jo McKechnie, said the sale would guarantee continued high-quality aged care in Gippsland.

“Baptcare shares our commitment to excellent care based on dignity and respect”.

It has a strong track record of more than 70 years of providing quality in-home care, residential care and retirement living for seniors, Mr Howes stated.

Drouin’s Amberlea, the first of the three to be developed and opened in 2003, accommodates 91 residents.

Heritage Manor, opened in 2006, has 96 beds with Abbey Gardens, just two years old, the largest with 123 beds.

Baptcare chief executive Graham Dangerfield said the organisation was honoured to be able to extend its service offering within Gippsland and the purchase showed Baptcare’s ongoing commitment to regional communities.

Mr Jacobson said Mr Howes, Ms McKechnie and himself were proud of developing a portfolio of three of the region’s leading residential aged care facilities over almost 20 years, describing it as a “Gippsland success story”.

However, we believe the time is right to allow the homes to grow under a bigger aged care organisation and maintain the focus on the highest standards of care, he said.