CORRECT: Four Seasons In Talks To Buy Care Principles From Barclays

20th Jul 2010 22:12

("=Four Seasons In Talks To Buy Care Principles From Barclays," published at 1755 GMT, misstated the Barclays entity involved in the talks. A corrected version follows.) By Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Four Seasons Health Care is in talks to buy Care Principles from Barclays Capital, a Four Seasons spokesman told Dow Jones Tuesday. The negotiations come as Four Seasons struggles to complete a long-running restructuring of its debt by amending its proposal to holders of GBP600 million of bonds backed by a loan to the U.K nursing-homes operator by increasing interest payments if loans aren't repaid. Care Principles operates some 18 secure hospitals, community hospitals and care homes across the country. Any deal with Barclays would involve Four Seasons taking over the operating business and leasing the properties from Barclays which would retain ownership of the freehold. The spokesman for Four Seasons declined to comment on the price tag for the business or how imminent a deal was but said "negotiations were in a late stage." Care Principles was originally bought by Three Delta, the Qatari-backed property fund that also bought Four Seasons in a highly complex bull market deal, involving 11 tranches of debt, securitization and a lending syndicate made up of over 30 institutions. The complexity of the deal has proved to be a major impediment to completing the restructuring. Three Delta, backed by Barclays, bought Care Principles for GBP270 million from 3i Group PLC (III.LN) in 2007 but in the face of large debts the bank took control in 2009. A representative for Barclays Capital wasn't immediately available for comment. -By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 20, 2010 17:12 ET (21:12 GMT)