US healthcare property group Welltower has confirmed that it is acquiring the portfolio of the Barchester Healthcare nursing home group, mainly owned by Irish billionaires JP McManus, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier, for £5.2 billion (€5.96 billion). However, the future ownership of the operating company is not yet clear. The Barchester group is essentially made up of two companies owned by common shareholders: the operating company, Barchester Healthcare; and a company that owns the underlying homes, Limecay Ltd. [ Irish owned Barchester Healthcare sees profits jumpOpens in new window ]The value of the deal is much higher than an expected figure north of £4 billion, reported last week. The Irish tycoons invested in Barchester in 1994, a little over a year after the business was set up by British entrepreneur Mike Parsons.
