CARE HOME GIANT OFFERS PRESCRIPTION FOR DEBT WOES

Care homes firm Four Seasons has announced proposals to slash the interest it pays on its £525million debt pile.

The group, owned by City wheeler dealer Guy Hands’s Terra Firma private equity business, is asking lenders to reduce what they’re owed.

The result is that Four Seasons would save around £30m a year in annual cash interest payments.

In exchange, the lenders will own 20% of the group which, under the deal, would include 24 highly profitable care homes that they didn’t have any charge over previously.

Four Seasons, which has around 17,000 elderly residents on its books across 335 homes, has been stung by a cut in the fees paid by local authorities, rising costs, and the introduction of the national living wage which affects many of its staff.

Former Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King, now vice chairman of Terra Firma, said: “The proposals on debt, if agreed, will give the business the secure financial footing it needs.”