Housing 21 bids for public company

The association claimed the move could push it into the top five providers of council-funded domiciliary or home-help care. On 7 August, Housing 21 unveiled the terms of a possible offer to purchase all of Claimar’s issued share capital at 39p a share. This was 212 per cent higher than the £32 million turnover business’s closing price on 6 August.

Housing 21 has until 31 August to carry out a due diligence examination of Claimar’s business, before making a firm offer to shareholders.

Major shareholders, including Mark Hales, chief executive of Claimar, have already made commitments to sell 27.7 per cent of the total shares at Housing 21’s provisional offer price.

Pushpa Raguvaran, deputy chief executive of Housing 21, estimated the acquisition would push the association into the top five providers of council-funded domiciliary care.

‘It has a very significant business stream called Claimar Care, which is very much like our home care,’ she said. ‘They provide 50,000 hours of care a week, we provide 30,000 hours a week. Apart from that there’s very little difference.’

She added that Housing 21 was currently eighth or ninth in this market.

As well as domiciliary care, Housing 21 specialises in retirement housing, owning and managing 16,000 sheltered and extra-care homes.

Ms Raguvaran said no precedent had been found for a housing association taking over a public limited company. But she said the principles ‘were exactly the same’ as when merging with another association.

‘As trade players, we can work out intrinsically what the business is going to be worth, as a stand-alone agency but also as part of a merged organisation,’ she said. ‘Our view is that the share price didn’t reflect the intrinsic value of the business, and that’s been supported by the level of interest in the business. We’ve been in quite a competitive position.’

In June last year Claimar, which trades on the alternative investment market, was forced to issue a profits warning, blaming delays signing new contracts and a struggle to claw back increased costs from its local authority clients. Claimar employs 3,000 staff and had a turnover of £32 million in 2007/08. It is mainly based in the north west and midlands.

Commenting on Housing 21’s announcement last week, Mr Hales said: ‘We were very keen to find the right home for Claimar. Housing 21 represents the right fit for our business, offering an excellent choice of care and support for older people.’

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