One of the UK’s largest care home chains, Care UK, has been sold to an American property investment firm, The Guardian can reveal, in a deal that comes as private providers pressure the government to play the most important role in the NHS.

Care UK, which runs more than 150 care homes, has been at the forefront sales speculation theme since 2018.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint Advisers, which paid £420m for the company in 2010, had previously tried, but failed, to sell the chain, which employs around 10,500 people and was founded in 1982. It said in its 2019 accounts that it had spent £2.5. I got financial advice for a “failed” sales process.

But Bridgepoint has now successfully sold its business to Welltower, a US real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in nursing homes, according to documents filed by Firms Home.

Neither Bridgepoint nor Welltower appear to have announced the deal to shareholders and it remains unclear how much the US company paid.

But publicly available documents show Care UK repaid a series of loans to HSBC shortly before the takeover took place. Care UK’s accounts show it has more than £300 million in bank loans.

The deal comes as independent healthcare providers launch an attack on the government, offering to provide their services to clear NHS backlogs.

In a letter to the Treasury, Independent Healthcare Providers Pink (IHPN), which represents private healthcare groups including Care UK, said its members could provide up to £1 billion of capacity to help ease the crisis.

Health Minister Wes Streeting previously said a Labor government would “do more than that [Tony Blair’s] New Labor has done this before” by using private health companies.

Care UK has billed more than £840 million to central and local government for services since 2016, according to figures from procurement data specialist Tussell. The company lost £2.6m last year on revenue of £490m, compared with a profit of £4.4m in 2022.

Bridgepoint is listed on the London Stock Exchange but had not announced its sale to investors as of Friday afternoon. The notice officially announced that Bridgepoint did not do so I already have control company published on October 16.

Three Welltower employees had been appointed directors two weeks earlier, including the head of its London office, Jorge Charro.

The deal does not include Follow Plus Group, a leading private hospital provider and one of the largest subcontractors to the NHS. Bridgepoint spun off the two companies in 2019 and retained ownership of Follow Plus, which has won around £3.5 billion in government contracts since 2012, according to Tussell.

The Guardian has contacted Bridgepoint, Care UK and Welltower for comment.