M&A and Investment Trends Webinar with Grant Thornton Materials

Care England in partnership with Grant Thornton hosted a webinar on the 9 May, 2023 at 2pm. The Webinar was aimed to provide a general overview of the Mergers & Acquisitions trends current and future market. This was focused primarily on the Elderly Care market but also included some discussion around Specialist Care.

The Panel consisted of very highly experienced individuals in the Care sector and represented perspectives from an Advisory, Operator, Investor and from a Lender’s angle.

The panel at the webinar included:

Nick Essex: M&A Director, Healthcare, Grant Thornton, UK

Peter Jennings: Partner- Healthcare, Grant Thornton, UK

David Martin Smith: Director- Corporate Development, Care Concern Group

Andrew Cowley: Managing Partner- Impact Healthcare REIT

David Thomson: Director – Health and Social Care sector, Virgin Money

Click below to watch a recording of this webinar

Following introductions, the panel members were asked several questions around some of the challenges that they have been facing in the market and key themes and trends over the past 12 months or so. They each spoke about their experience and perspectives looking back to COVID but also present day and looking forward.

The panel also discussed some of the opportunities they are seeing around the sector and key focus areas for the future. This included both operational opportunities and investment focus.

One key area discussed was that area facing all areas of the panel was the changes in the interest rates and unpredictability of the economic conditions. Although unpredictable, the panel discussed at length about what businesses can do to navigate through these turbulent conditions and still be sustainable.

Each panel member was asked about what they thought operators could do to make their businesses more investable, which gave an inside look at some of the key areas investors and operators look at when looking for debt, investment and exits.

According to the panel of experts, the summary was that the sector had emerged from the COVID period, and come through some really difficult challenges in a strong place from an investment perspective. Whilst there are still headwinds in the market, there was cautious optimism in the sector and there remains plenty of M&A interest and activity.

Grant Thornton, Healthcare M&A team would be delighted to have a chat with any member of Care England who might have any questions, queries or have a general chat.

Link for anyone interested in speaking to Grant Thornton