Octopus Healthcare raises more than £58m

Octopus Healthcare has raised £58.8m on the back of growing demand from institutional investors for healthcare real estate.

The specialist healthcare real estate investor, which manages more than £1.7bn of institutional funds from a total of over £7.7bn under management, said the fundraise had seen investment from both new and existing institutional investors.

Head of institutional investment at Octopus Hiti Singh said institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance funds and multi-managers, were increasingly looking for alternative asset classes to expand or diversify their portfolios.

‘Healthcare real estate offers a compelling combination of attractive fundamentals driven by an ageing population and long-term income, together with the social benefit of providing first class and modern accommodation for elderly people needing care,’ she said.

Octopus has secured over £267m of transactions into the UK elderly care home sector alone over the last 12 months, through a combination of standing investments, forward fundings and forward commitment acquisitions. In January, the investor added £133.5m to its care home fund.

Director at Octopus Healthcare Ben Penaliggon said: ‘At a time when some sectors are experiencing challenges and uncertainty, healthcare continues to attract institutional investment. The care home sector has strong market fundamentals, due to the growing demands of an ageing population against the backdrop of a shortage of quality real estate. Octopus Healthcare continues to build strong partnerships within the care home sector, driven by a commitment to creating the exceptional healthcare facilities this demographic of society needs.’

At LaingBuisson’s Healthcare Real Estate Conference last month Jose de Pablo, Octopus Healthcare investment director, told delegates its survey of 100 global institutional investors found that many would be looking to increase their allocation of healthcare assets over the next five years.

A review of the conference will be available in the May issue of HM and CM.