A Qualia Care home, the 73-bedroom St Mary’s Nursing Home in Moston, Manchester, has been sold to Vriddhi Investments, which is backed by Agha Group, on behalf of the administrator Griffins. 

This was the first of the care group’s 14 homes, which were initially funded through a Ponzi scheme, to be sold following a landmark High Court ruling in September.

Qualia Care Properties and Qualia Care Developments took contributions from individual investors of between £50-70,000 to purchase a long-term lease on a care home room, in order to sublet the room back to the other Qualia companies. In total the scheme received £57 million from individual investors between February 2016 and September 2020. There were 14 homes funded under the Qualia Care brand before both entities were liquidated in the summer of 2022, and Qualia Care went into administration in October of that year.

While some of the care homes have since closed, nine, including St Mary’s, are still in operation.

In September a team from Gateley Legal secured an order from the High Court which enabled the sale of the home with “fractional ownership” leaseholders surrendering their leases. Colliers’ healthcare team has been appointed to sell the homes and St Mary’s nursing home, received more than 50 expressions of interest.

Administrator Stephen Hunt said: “By securing the legal ruling we have been able to unlock the sales process of these assets, which will enable investors and creditors to recover some of their funds. We have managed to secure a strong outcome for those involved in St Mary’s and anticipate a similar level of interest in the other operational assets within the portfolio.

“This will be a landmark case, which we hope will now be able to proceed at pace.”

The acquisition marks Agha Group’s inaugural investment in the healthcare sector. The home will be operated by Serene HC UK, a group of healthcare professionals. 

Agha Sameer Anwar, chief executive of Agha Group said: “St Mary’s Nursing Home was carefully selected as it is ideally placed to benefit from our operating company Serene HC’s particular skill set; working closely with the community to ensure that the most vulnerable are given the dignity and highest level of focused care they deserve. Our plans to invest significantly in the fabric of the property will support this commitment to provide leading care for our customers. We’re looking forward to working with the staff and providing reassurance to them and the patients who have been through a significant period of uncertainty.” 

Vriddhi Investments was advised by commercial estate agent Fisher German’s investment team with legal advice provided by Browne Jacobson’s healthcare team.

Commercial real estate firm Colliers, in association with chartered surveyor Peter Fenwick & Co, facilitated the sale.

Ali Willoughby from Colliers’ healthcare team commented: “There was a real swell of interest in St Mary’s due to the size and quality of the home. This has of course been a concerning time for residents and staff, who I’m sure are pleased that there will be stability going forward following completion of the sale of the operational asset.

“There is continuing interest in the wider Qualia Care portfolio, and we’re hopeful that the ongoing sales will result in the individual investors being able to recoup a good proportion of their funds.”