PracticeAreas

Property Services - Seniors Housing

 In the context of transactions in the seniors housing sector, our specific experience includes:

• Providing the expertise and experience to negotiate and project manage major corporate transactions in the industry
• Establishing data rooms or carrying out extensive due diligence on the sale or purchase of retirement villages and aged care facilities
• Preparation and/or review of resident agreements, development agreements, management agreements and joint venture agreements
• Regulatory advice
• Tax structuring advice
• Litigation and dispute resolution.

• We have acted for the Zig Inge Group for the past 20 years on all aspects of their business.  
• We acted for Zig Inge Group in the sale of a 49% interest in the Group to Macquarie Capital Alliance Group in 2005. The transaction was run as a dual-track process with the directors simultaneously considering an IPO and trade sale.  
• We are presently acting for Zig Inge / MCAG in the potential sale of the business.  
• We acted for the retirement village developer, owner and operator, Country Club Villages Pty Ltd (Stewart Gull) in the sale of a 30% stake to ING Real Estate Community Living Fund.  
• We acted for the Sakkara Group in the sale of their seven retirement village communities in New South Wales to Aevum.  
• We provided tax structuring and property structuring advice to the Buxton Group for the development and operation of the Rylands Retirement Villages at Brighton, Kew and Hawthorn in Victoria.  
• We acted for Third Age Australia in the sale of their seven aged care facilities to Blue Cross.  
• We act for a range of operators in the retirement village industry including Becton Living, Primelife and other smaller operators.  
• We have advised a wide range of potential greenfield start ups including Austcorp, Hamton and Endeavour West.  
• We have acted for a variety of operators in the aged care industry including Arcare, Viculus, Sunnycove, Third Age Australia, and Accredited Aged Care.  
• We advised and documented a managed investment scheme for People First Retirement Management for a proposed retirement village development including preparation of the constitution, product disclosure statement and all agreements between the investors, responsible entity, manager and residents.  
• We have provided advice on the affordable housing model.  
• We acted on a joint venture for the provision of in-home aged care services.

Over the past year or so, Steven has assisted the Retirement Villages Association with their negotiation with Government in respect of the six month buy back regulations and is on the working party with Consumer Affairs Victoria for the negotiation of standard contracts for use in the industry. He has also spoken over the past two years at various conferences including a Tax Institute conference and the Retirement Villages Association national conference on legal aspects of retirement villages. Steven was also recently published in the Law Institute Journal on the impact of the changes to the Retirement Villages Act in 2006.