Irish investors sell Barchester Healthcare to Welltower in landmark £5.2 billion deal

Three of Ireland’s most prominent businessmen — JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond — have sold their long-held stake in Barchester Healthcare to US real estate giant Welltower for £5.2 billion, marking one of the largest private healthcare transactions in UK history.

The deal ends more than two decades of Irish ownership in the UK’s second-largest private care home operator and reflects Ireland’s continuing influence on global healthcare investment. The trio, who controlled Barchester through Jersey-based Grove Limited, have secured a return more than double the valuation first discussed in 2019, when a proposed sale to Macquarie collapsed amid Brexit uncertainty.

Barchester operates 223 facilities across the UK, providing 14,500 beds and employing over 16,000 staff. Under chairman John Coleman, the company has become a model of operational stability — a key factor behind its strong valuation and attractiveness to international investors.

For Welltower, already the world’s largest healthcare REIT, the acquisition significantly expands its UK footprint, following its £1.2 billion purchase of HC-One care homes earlier this year. The US group now controls £6.4 billion in British care assets and intends to lift its UK investment to $12 billion within the next decade.

The transaction also highlights a growing trend: global capital flowing into UK social care. Rising demand from an ageing population and increasing care fees — up 8.5 per cent in 2024, according to Cushman & Wakefield — are driving stable long-term returns for investors.

Read the full article to see how Ireland’s business heavyweights are reshaping global healthcare investment through landmark deals like this.