Care home operator Signature Senior Lifestyle has announced a £75 million joint venture with global real estate firm Heitman to develop and operate care homes in London and the south east. 

Signature currently operates care communities in Kent, Sheffield, and Leicester, with communities under construction in Surrey and Essex and several others in development in the south east.

The project marks Heitman’s first property investment in the UK and comes soon after another US firm, The Goodman Group of America, announced it is looking to invest £500 million in a UK launch.

The Heitman-Signature partnership aims to develop three care homes for elderly residents with nursing “offering highest quality services and accommodation in communities of between 75 to 95 purpose built units”. The partnership has already acquired a site in Marlow, an affluent community in Buckinghamshire. Construction on the site is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2012.

Gordon Black, senior managing director of Heitman’s European private real estate equity group, said care homes were attractive as “one of the more defensive real estate asset classes”.

“UK demographics suggest the sector is poised for impressive growth but key to our investment strategy is partnering with experienced operators,” he said. “In Signature, whose management team has been active in the UK market successfully developing and managing over 30 facilities, we’re fortunate to have found the ideal partner with which to pursue an investment in this attractive asset class.”
 
Heitman, founded in 1966 and headquartered in Chicago, manages $23.8 billion (£15.2 billion) in assets.