Member Article

Southern Cross to hold crunch talks

Southern Cross will reportedly hold a crisis meeting with its small army of landlords, lenders and government representatives later today.

The North East-based care home provider, which is unable to meet rent payments on its homes, hopes to reach an agreement on its financial future with its creditors, the BBC reports.

A key issue will be to ensure continuity of care for the 31,000 people at the firm’s 751 care homes.

The BBC has learned that Southern Cross may be left with contracts to operate only 250 to 400 of those homes.

But the biggest landlord, NHP, which owns 249 of the homes, is expected to stick with Southern Cross.

The government has been putting intense pressure on landlords not to abandon Southern Cross altogether, according to BBC business editor Robert Peston.

The landlords met on Monday, and are expected to table their own proposal for the firm’s future.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .