Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded more than 35 years ago, Beechcroft is one of the UK’s leading retirement developers with a portfolio of homes in Greater London and South East England. Beechcroft covers the entire development value chain including site sourcing, design and planning, construction, and sales.

Equity for the investment came from Carlyle Europe Realty (CER), a €540 million pan-European real estate fund.

A statement from The Carlyle Group said: "The acquisition represents a continuation of the fund’s investment strategy of focusing on properties underpinned by demographic trends. The senior demographic is forecast to grow significantly faster than the rest of the UK population, and the low-care senior housing segment has proven to date to be very resilient through the current environment. There is also the opportunity to further scale and expand the Beechcroft platform given the size and fragmentation of the senior housing market.”  

Anssi Halonen, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “We were attracted to Beechcroft given its high quality and resilient platform which covers all aspects of the development value chain. We believe this acquisition represents an excellent entry point into the low-care UK senior housing sector, an area which benefits from strong demographic trends and an increased demand in a Covid-impacted environment.”

Chris Thompson, managing director of Beechcroft, said: “With a rapidly aging population and a structural undersupply of suitable housing options for older people, we believe there is huge potential for growth within the UK retirement market. Beechcroft has capability and experience across private housing for the elderly as well as in mixed-use / mixed-tenure schemes. We are delighted to have received the backing of The Carlyle Group to take the company forward into the next phase of its development and growth. This investment in the company will enable the Beechcroft team to seek to capitalise on the significant market opportunity on offer, which includes the areas of rented, shared ownership and discounted market sale housing for the elderly, as well as the development of our private housing and strategic land offerings, alongside our retirement schemes.”

Beechcroft and Alchemy were advised by Rothschild & Co and Macfarlanes, Carlyle was advised by BCLP, Deloitte and CBRE, and the management team were advised by Arrowpoint Advisory and Shoosmiths.

The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partner Alexander Green with assistance from solicitor Simon Russell. Tax expertise was provided by partner Peter Abbott and solicitor Joe Robinson and advice on the financing aspects of the deal came from senior counsel Laura Bretherton, senior solicitor Laura Uberoi and solicitor Yagmur Yarar.