Retirement business chief execs sign off

AUCKLAND: Four heads of listed retirement businesses have left in the past few months, the latest being Arvida’s Bill McDonald, who departed on Monday.

In November, Julian Cook of Summerset Group said he was retiring from the job he had done for seven years, having worked at the business for 10 years.

In March, Oceania Healthcare chief executive Earl Gasparich resigned and Metlifecare said it was employing him to implement its growth strategy.

Metlifecare was delisted from the NZX after its takeover last year.

In turn, Metlifecare said its chief executive Glen Sowry was leaving.

This week, Arvida chairman Peter Wilson said the company’s chief executive, Bill McDonald, would go at the end of September to ‘‘pursue personal interests’’.

Mr McDonald has been at the helm since Arvida rose to prominence on the share market and expanded fast.

CFO Jeremy Nicoll has been appointed to replace him from October.

‘‘Bill has done a fantastic job leading Arvida through an NZX listing in 2014 to become one of the larger and most respected retirement village and agedcare operators in New Zealand,’’ Mr Wilson said.

Forsyth Barr released new research this month saying the agedcare landscape was changing.

‘‘Three of the four listed agedcare operators have pivoted new care development towards care suites or similar, sold under an occupational rights agreement. The reason for this pivot is likely to be a combination of poor profitability within standard care, increased expectations with regards to standards from care residents and a wish to differentiate offerings,’’ it said.

Before the announcement, Mr McDonald said: ‘‘For Arvida incorporating care into retirement communities is core to strategy, offering residents a continuum.’’

This meant residents could move from independent living to fully assisted living within the same retirement community if needed, he said.

‘‘All of our future care development of around 450 units or a third of our current development pipeline is under the care suite model and subject to an occupation rights agreement,’’ he said earlier this month.

Demand for a better product was being driven by the community, which wanted more than just a room off a corridor, he said.

Oceania is on a similar path and Summerset is developing similarly with its memory care units.

Ryman Healthcare has provided traditional care beds but under the Australian refundable accommodation deposit structure.

For Arvida, the care suite model allowed the company to accelerate the build of care, which would not have been possible under the traditional model, Mr McDonald said.

‘‘Care suites are purposebuilt and differ in room size, quality and amenity from the standard care bed.’’

‘‘They are certified to allow up to hospitallevel care to be provided in the same room, which means rooms have to allow for hoists, wide beds, etc. We also design our care suites in small clusters so that a more homelike community within the care centre can evolve.’’