The rate of Covid-19 deaths at HC-One facilities in England per bed capacity was 10 per cent – well above the 8.3 per cent average. And in a private equity model, this return is usually only recouped once the business is sold on.īetween April 2020 and the end of March 2021, there were 1,618 deaths at HC-One facilities, more than any other operator. But as with any business, owners would not invest money if they did not predict a healthy return. HC-One, on behalf of itself, Safanad, the Bahamdan Group and other affiliates, says that its owners ‘are a net-positive contributor to HC-One’.
The firm then received £18.9million of taxpayer-funded government support. A significant chunk of is not going to provide care for granny or grandad, it’s going to the Cayman Islands.’Īs the pandemic took hold, HC-One asked councils for financial help. Jason Ward, principal analyst at CICTAR and author of the report, said: ‘You have the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia ripping money out of cash-strapped care homes in the UK, while workers and residents are suffering, to make some of the world’s richest people even richer off of the backs of government funding and people’s life savings. HC-One stresses it pays full tax in the UK. These high-interest payments reduced taxable profits in the UK and let the company shift money to the Cayman Islands as interest income – where it is tax-free. Grand Cayman is seen aboveĪccording to a report by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, the companies in the HC-One structure have loaned money to each other via complex accounting, with very high interest rates. HC-One stands accused of siphoning off millions from its heavily subsidised care homes to its private equity owners in the Cayman Islands, via a legal yet complicated business structure. On the board of Safanad, Mr Bahamdan rub shoulders with Abdul Kareem Abu Al Nasr, a former chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank, and Lubna Olayan – a member of a family ranked by Forbes magazine in 2016 as the wealthiest in the Middle East, with a fortune of over £7.6 billion. The Bahamdan Group controls Safanad Ltd, of which Bahamdan is also founder and chief executive, and which is the majority owner of HC-One. Since 2002, he has been at the helm of Bahamdan Group, a global investment group with investments in telecommunications, education, infrastructure and retail in the Middle East and North Africa. In October 2023 a new lifetime care cap of £86,000 will come into force – but the Commons health committee warns help is needed for pensioners before then.īut for the companies run by Mr Bahamdan, 50, who won a bronze medal with the Saudi Arabian show-jumping team at the 2012 London Olympics, these life-changing sums are loose change. Many are forced to raid their life savings to fund care in their final years. Residents in England pay the full cost of social care until their assets – including the value of their own home – fall to below £23,250. The social care system is facing collapse, with a mounting staffing shortage and rising costs. A company run by millionaire Saudi Olympic showjumper Kamal Bahamdan owns HC-One – which, with 265 facilities and bed capacity of 16,116 in England, is the country’s largest care home operator
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