Senior lenders to Four Seasons Healthcare, including Royal Bank of Scotland, are stepping up efforts to restructure the debt of the UK healthcare provider.

The moves are occurring ahead of a looming debt repayment deadline in September.

Senior lenders – among them RBS, Cheyne Capital, Marathon Asset Management and a Morgan Stanley Real Estate run fund – have held a series of talks over recent days and weeks.

Four Seasons’ creditors are now expected to engage with the company directly, according to people close to the affair.

The company is the UK’s third-largest nursing home operator behind Southern Cross and Bupa, with 333 care homes running nearly 17,000 beds. It is facing a massive refinancing in three months of £1.2bn of its £1.5bn debt load.

Financial Times