Cambian Group has agreed a deal with Cygnet Health Care to sell its adult services business in a transaction worth £377m.

Kent based mental health services provider Cygnet has 21 centres with more than 1,000 beds across the UK.

It reportedly took control of the disposed business at 11.5x earnings however some sources have claimed that the multiple was as high as 15x.

This deal shows a buoyant market for scale operators in the specialist care sector and is positive news for participants, like the Montreux Healthcare Fund, which are seeking to further consolidate the market before exit.

Montreux is the majority investor in The Regard Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of quality residential care and supported living services to over 1000 service users across more than 145 sites.

Oliver Harris CEO of Montreux Capital Management (UK), the firm which advises the Montreux Healthcare Fund stated:

“This transaction shows a buoyant UK Specialist Care Market as this asset class continues to attract considerable investment from both UK and overseas based institutional investors.

We are seeing strong activity in UK Specialist Care as investors switch from the high end elderly space, where we have seen high valuations in an overheating market due to the finite amount of purpose built facilities available. Unlike the high end elderly space, the specialist care sector is not geographically constrained and continues to offer value to investors.

The activity within the sector is good news for Montreux and its investors who already own a large national platform which we are looking to grow further to create the largest premier specialist care operator in the UK.”