Renaissance Care expands with six-figure Barclays deal

Robert Kilgour says the funding deal will allow Renaissance to accelerate its acquisition plans. Picture: Nick Mailer

The Musselburgh-headquartered group, which currently operates a portfolio of 14 care homes across Scotland, has secured an additional £600,000 from the lender to finance acquisition plans and support the development of its existing properties as it looks to expand capacity.

This follows an initial £4.5 million funding package provided by Barclays in 2017.

Renaissance Care, owned by its senior management team and Kilgour’s investment vehicle Dow Investments, operates homes in Aberdeenshire, Moray, Perth and Kinross, Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire and North and South Lanarkshire, providing care to more than 600 elderly residents.

It employs more than 1,000 staff and has a projected turnover of £27m this year.

Kilgour founded Four Seasons Health Care in the 1980s, building it up into a major UK-wide group before stepping down around 2000. He completed his final financial exit from Four Seasons in 2005.

As an ambassador for Macmillan Cancer Support, Kilgour this year launched a £2m Scottish cancer appeal for the charity, pledging £100,000 of his own money and seeking to tap into the business connections made throughout his career.

Kilgour said: “We have invested heavily in improving our care homes and expanding our portfolio over the past two years.

“Barclays has always shared our vision for growth and the opportunity arose to access further capital to speed up our investment programme.

“The care sector has unique challenges and we need a banking partner like Barclays which understands the complexities of social care.”

He added that the backing from Barclays would improve the group’s ability to provide “the best possible care and facilities”.

Jamie Grant, head of region Scotland and Northern Ireland at the banking group, added: “Our specialist healthcare team has supported the social care industry for more than two decades and we understand the importance of continual investment in improving care facilities.

“We have worked with Renaissance Care for several years to assist its growth plans which are underpinned by solid business planning and led by an experience management team.

“We are actively lending to the healthcare sector in Scotland and our team can provide specialist expertise at a time where access to social care is becoming increasingly vital to our aging population.”

The deal team at Barclays was led by relationship director Helen Hutchison.