Fears for Edinburgh elderly residents as care home giant faces administration

Fears have been raised for elderly residents at five Edinburgh care homes after it emerged industry giant Four Seasons is poised to collapse into administration.

Elderly residents in Edinburgh will be affected. Pic: Rawpixel.com-Shutterstock

The company is set to appoint corporate undertakers at Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) to carry out the process following an aborted sale attempt.

Four Seasons houses 22,000 elderly residents across 322 homes, although the firm insists that operations will be unaffected by the move.

Five of their care homes in Edinburgh are affected. These are: Gilmerton Neurological Care Centre, Gilmerton Care Home, Castlegreen Care home, North Merchiston Care Home and Guthrie House Care Home.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “Residents in the five Edinburgh care homes and their families will be very concerned about Four Seasons going into administration and what this presents for the future provision of the care homes.

“This is yet another example of the care crisis engulfing Edinburgh.

“We need to see urgent steps taken to stabilise the situation and support find a future for the company.

“It is crucial that the Scottish Government ensures operations at these care homes continue.”

The collapse will be the biggest care homes failure since Southern Cross went bust in 2011.

Late last year, US hedge fund H2 Capital Partners, which effectively controls Four Seasons, ordered a sale of the crisis-hit company, which is struggling under a £525 million debt mountain. The bulk of the debt is held by H2, which is run by Spencer Haber.

Only weeks ago, Four Seasons insisted that it had “sufficient operating liquidity” to be able to complete the sale process.

A&M will now attempt to sell the group out of administration.

The failure of Four Seasons will cap a sorry saga for the group, which is still nominally owned by Guy Hands’ private equity vehicle Terra Firma.

Terra Firma bought Four Seasons for £825 million in 2012 and has been forced to stomach a £450 million writedown on its investment.

There have been acute worries over Four Seasons’ financial performance and debt pile for several years.

It has been stung by a cut in local authority fees, rising costs and the introduction of the national living wage, and the group has continuously warned over its long-term stability.

To keep up-to-date with all our stories from across Edinburgh and the Lothians like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

Sign up to our newsletter: enter your email in the box at the top of this article to get daily updates straight to your inbox.