We’re delighted to announce the sale by Alina Homecare of its Disability Support division to Swanton Care and Community, one of the UK’s leading residential care and supported living providers. It is the fifth exit from Bridges’ private equity portfolio in 2024.

Alina Disability Support provides quality care and support for children and adults with learning disabilities and other complex care needs in their own home. It operates 11 branches across the South of England, delivering about 24,000 hours of care per week. It has also embraced innovation, using technology to enhance care delivery and relieve its teams from administrative tasks, allowing them to spend more time delivering great outcomes for those they support.

Alina’s people-centred culture – which includes rewards programmes, training opportunities (through the Alina Homecare Academy) and zero agency usage – is reflected in market-leading retention and satisfaction rates; while its focus on quality and delivering better care outcomes is evidenced by a Service User Satisfaction rating of 98% in its latest annual survey.

The Alina Group retains the Alina Homecare division, which is a growing provider of high-quality homecare and live-in services to privately funded customers across the South of England. The business operates from its network of 45 branches.

James Deeley, co-founder and CEO of Alina Homecare, said:

“From a small operation in Poole & Bournemouth, we have successfully grown Alina Disability Support into a leading provider of high-quality care and support across the South of England. Joining Swanton will allow the business to achieve its full potential as part of a national group. Our steadfast focus on quality and the right people culture are closely aligned to Swanton’s approach and I wish Kate Ford and the wider Disability Support management team every success for the future. The Alina Group will continue to focus on providing high quality privately funded homecare and live-in services from our growing network of 45 branches.”

Antony Ross, senior advisor and chair of Bridges Inclusive Growth Fund, said:

“Despite the difficult operating environment for care providers over the last five years, Alina has shown an unwavering commitment to building a high-quality team and delivering best-in-class care to the people it supports. That’s why it has been able to build such strong relationships with Local Authorities and CCGs, enabling the team to support more people with complex care needs. We are really proud of what Alina Disability Support has achieved to date, and we have no doubt it will continue to go from strength to strength as part of the Swanton group.”

This is the fifth exit from the Bridges private equity funds in 2024. Previous realisations include: AgilityEco, a pioneering home decarbonisation platform that supports people in fuel poverty: Vegetarian express, which supplies plant-based ingredients and inspiration to chefs across the UK; Viva Gym, the largest low-cost fitness group in the Iberian region; and Nexgen (formerly Just Ask), a facilities management business that works primarily with Housing Associations.

The Alina Group was advised by KPMG Corporate Finance, led by Tony Ball, and Pinsents, led by Jo Ellis and Ben Elliott.