Palamon closes €550 million sale of SARquavitae for 3.0x return
Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has completed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), the leading elderly care provider in Spain for €550 million. Palamon sold SARquavitae’s operating business to GeriaVi, which holds Geriatros, another leading player in the Spanish elderly care market, and is a subsidiary of DomusVi (a PAI Partners portfolio company) for €440 million. SARquavitae’s property companies were sold to Eurosic Lagune, a third party real estate investor, in a separate transaction prior to the sale. Both sales have together generated a combined investment return of 3.0x for Palamon.
SARquavitae is the largest elderly care services provider in Spain, operating 88 facilities nationwide and is active in residential facilities, home care, tele-assistance and the provision of at-home medical services. The Company employs approximately 12,000 staff and services 200,000 people per year. Palamon originally invested in SARquavitae in 2009 having identified the opportunity to build a national champion of scale in the fragmented Spanish elderly care sector. Ageing demographics, shifts in social structure and regulatory reform created an ideal environment in which to rapidly grow the business both organically and through acquisitions. In 2011 the Company completed the transformational acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae, making it the largest player in the market. Over Palamon’s hold period, SARquavitae grew revenues from €127 million to more than €330 million and more than tripled EBITDA.
Julian Carreras, Partner at Palamon commented: “The sale of our investment in SARquavitae represents another impressive outcome for Palamon, generating a 3.0x return for our investors. It underlines the power of our original investment thesis, which predicted the growth in the Spanish elderly care market. We would like to remember at this time Higinio Raventos, founder of SARquavitae, who sadly passed away last year and to thank the management team for building a highly effective working relationship during this period and wish them every success with their new partners.”
