Oceania Healthcare selling 11 rest homes for $75m, laid off 23 head office staff

She would not name any properties, indicating the company did not want to upset residents or staff.

Oceania Healthcare chief executive Suzanne Dvorak. Photo / NZME

All hospitals were being sold as going concerns.

The company decided to sell those stand-alone rest home hospitals because it wants to only offer integrated care, she said.

That means independent villas or units, apartments and care beds are offered all on the one property, not just the care beds, she said.

Last Friday’s announcement showed seven hospitals sold for $35m:

Woburn, Waipukurau: sold 1HY26Totara Park, Warkworth: sold 2HY25Otumarama, Stoke, Nelson: sold 2HY25Victoria Place rest home and hospital, Tokoroa: sold 1HY25Takanini Lodge, Auckland. sold 1HY25Middlepark rest home, now called Elms Court, Christchurch: sold 1HY25Holmwood, Rangiora: sold 1HY25.

The presentation said “1HY26 and FY25 divestments executed – $35m capital released. Another four sites are under due diligence at circa $40m, on track to settle in FY26″.

The rest homes sold or to be sold are all at least 15 years old, that said.

They are sites that Oceania referred to as geographically isolated, meaning they have limited operational efficiency and scalability.

The $75m from the sales is being reinvested and used to repay debt.

Sources said other rest home operations had bought the seven already sold.

Oceania Healthcare sold the Waipukurau Woburn Masonic rest home this year. Photo / Masonic Villages

Warwick Dunn of Masonic Villages said that entity had bought the Woburn care home in Waipukurau this year.

Oceania chief financial officer Kathryn Waugh said last Friday that divestments remain an important lever in strengthening the balance sheet and supporting the stabilisation plan.

“Across the half we continued to progress a number of properties through due diligence, and several are now moving through the final stages. We have been very clear that we will only divest non-core sites, and that discipline has guided our discussions,” Waugh said.

Ryman Healthcare’s interim result also noted two of its Christchurch rest homes – Margaret Stoddart and Woodcote with 95 beds – had shut in tfirst half of this year.

“Earlier this year, Ryman confirmed it was reviewing its aged care bed capacity in New Zealand due to sector-wide under-funding, and two care centres have since been closed,” the company said.

In April, Oceania shut the Wesley Institute of Nursing Education, whichhad been established to help address a nursing shortage by providing intensive training programmes for foreigners.

In the six months to September 30, 2025, the company, with $3 billion of assets, turned a previous $17.1m net after-tax loss into a $4.9m profit in its interim result.

Revenue fell from $132.6m to $131.6m but expenses were also cut from $181m to $154m, improving its bottom line.

Sales rose 5%. Oceania sold 271 units and 161 care suites in the latest half-year, as well as cutting expenses.

Of those sales, 39 were new units, 52 were new care suites, 71 units were resold and 109 care suites were resold.

In August, the business told investors it expected to get $30m to $50m from the sale of four to six sites.

“Since its 2017 IPO, Oceania has modernised and expanded its portfolio through strategic development at 15 sites, and divestment of 18 sites, becoming a leading operator with contemporary sites.”

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.

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