Stepstone, GREYKITE to recapitalize Vitalia in EUR 1.5B transaction

StepStone Real Estate and GREYKITE announce the planned recapitalization of Vitalia, Spain’s second largest care home owner-operator, through the agreement to acquire a majority interest in Vitalia from Vivaly Investments BV, a portfolio investment of CVC Fund VI and Portobello Capital Fund III, and the commitment of over EUR 500M in growth capital. Both Vivaly Investments BV and Vitalia’s founder and senior management team will be retaining minority stakes. GREYKITE will be acting as the general partner on behalf of the shareholders, leading day to day management of the investment. The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals. Vitalia is the benchmark for residential quality in Spain with its ‘homes for living’ model; pioneering a resident-centered care model that focuses on at home and onsite rehabilitation, dedicated tech enabled 24-hour medical support, and restraint free care. Vitalia benefits from a best-in-class management team that has been with the business since its inception and brings over 50 years of combined experience. The company currently operates 75 care home facilities, and with a substantial secured pipeline of new developments, will own and operate approximately 15,000 beds across Spain. With a 2.5% market share in a fragmented and undersupplied sector and demand driven by Spain’s rapidly aging population, the company is well-positioned to address a projected 40% shortfall in new care home delivery by 2030 by delivering approximately 50% of new beds over that period. The transaction follows the successful close of StepStone Real Estate Partners V in April, which raised over $5B in total commitments including affiliated discretionary co-investments vehicles. The transaction will mark the tenth investment in SREP V and its largest to date, emphasizing SRE’s GP-Led strategy of recapitalizing scaled real estate platforms alongside existing managers and owners. It also reflects StepStone’s growing focus on Spain, where the firm is expanding across multiple strategies including primary capital deployment into Spanish funds. Importantly, this investment builds SRE’s successful and global track record in the healthcare real estate sector, where it will manage post-transaction approximately $5B of AUM. This transaction also follows the formal launch of GREYKITE and its inaugural discretionary real estate fund, GREYKITE European Real Estate Fund I in March 2024. Vitalia will be the Fund’s eighth portfolio company investment and second headquartered in Spain, and is consistent with GREYKITE’s focus on thematic real estate platform investments across the broader Living, Industrial and Digital sectors.