Eldercare to buy Tauranga apartment block for $7.5m

Retirement-care company Eldercare intends to buy a complex of 76 apartments in Tauranga for $7.5 million as part of an expansion of its "assisted living" portfolio.

The conditional deal, with a gross sale value of $20 million, will go unconditional after due diligence is completed on April 5.

Eldercare will not release the name of the vendors until next month but says it will buy all the shares in the two companies which own, and are currently developing, the complex.

The facility for semi-independent living will run alongside the company's Elmswood Retirement Home, also in Tauranga.

The purchase comes just a few days before Eldercare iincreases its share capital by 10 per cent through an issue to institutional investors next week to raise $6.97m.

Eldercare shares closed down 2c yesterday at 55c.