Groupe Chateau Bellevue’s residence in Donnacona, Que. The company has been acquired by Champlain SH Real Estate Fund. (Courtesy Chateau Bellevue)

The Champlain SH Real Estate Fund announced Tuesday it has acquired Groupe Chateau Bellevue and its eight retirement residences, all located in the Province of Quebec.

The announcement was released jointly by Frédéric Lepage, president and CEO of Groupe Chateau Bellevue, as well as Marie-France Poulin and Jean-François Breton, representatives of the Champlain SH Real Estate Fund.

The fund is managed by a partnership between Groupe Camada, a private equity company held by the Poulin family; BBCF Asset Management, a group managing retirement home assets; Kastello Immobilier, an investment company controlled the Fortin family specializing in real estate; and Corporation Financiere Champlain, a private investment group which invests in small and medium-sized businesses.

“Our team of Quebec investors, who have solid experience in asset management, real estate and the acquisition of seniors’ residences, is delighted (with) the partnership with the Château Bellevue Group,” said Poulin, the vice-president of Camada Group, in a release announcing the transaction.

Financial details were not disclosed.

$2 billion in development plans

The acquisition is intended to facilitate a rapid expansion at Chateau Bellevue, with the owners planning to construct three to four new suburban retirement homes annually during the next decade.

The plan is to create up to $2 billion in new development, resulting in 8,000 new seniors housing units. Ultimately, the fund aims to hold approximately 30 retirement homes, with nearly 10,000 rental units around the province.

Chateau Bellevue Group will manage the residences.

“This fund will give the Chateau Bellevue Group a new impetus and allow us to offer even more Quebec seniors the ‘Château life’, ” Lepage said in the release.

The partnership comes as Quebec, and Canada, faces a growing demand in coming years from an aging population which will need more access to high-quality living environments.

The Champlain SH fund

The Champlain SH Real Estate Fund already brings together several private Quebec investors.

“The fund rests on solid foundations while our national development strategy is already well underway. This allows us to project the creation of 1,500 jobs over the next few years,” said Breton, president of BBCF Gestion d’actifs and one of the fund’s investors, in the release.

The operations and daily management of the Chateau Bellevue Group’s retirement homes will not change, the companies say.

The transaction will not affect services provided at the residences and members of the management team remain in place.

Lepage and Grégoire Turcotte, co-founders of the Chateau Bellevue Group, remain committed to the new phase of development.

Groupe Chateau Bellevue was founded in 2006 in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce. It currently has eight complexes in Chaudière-Appalaches, Capitale-Nationale, Montérégie, Bas-St-Laurent and Mauricie.

With a total of 1,833 units, the Château Bellevue Group is one of the 10 largest owner-managers of private seniors’ homes in Quebec.

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