StepStone Real Estate and GREYKITE Enter Into Agreement to Recapitalize Vitalia, Spain’s Second Largest Senior Care Provider, in Landmark €1.5 Billion Transaction

Rhea-AI Summary

StepStone Real Estate (Nasdaq: STEP) and GREYKITE agreed to recapitalize Vitalia in a landmark €1.5 billion transaction announced Oct 16, 2025. The deal includes a commitment of over €500 million in growth capital and will see SRE and GREYKITE acquire a majority stake while Vivaly Investments BV and Vitalia management retain minority holdings.

Vitalia currently operates 75 care homes and will own and operate about 15,000 beds. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and follows SREP V raising > $5 billion in April 2025.

Positive

• Transaction valued at €1.5 billion
• Committed > €500 million in growth capital
• Vitalia operates 75 facilities
• Post-transaction management of ~$5.0 billion healthcare AUM by SRE
• Vitalia will own and operate ~15,000 beds

Negative

• Transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals
• Vitalia holds a 2.5% market share in a fragmented sector

Insights

Private Equity Real Estate Strategist

Large GP-led recapitalization strengthens scaled healthcare platform exposure in Spain and deploys substantial growth capital.

StepStone Real Estate and GREYKITE plan a majority acquisition of Vitalia in a landmark €1.5 billion transaction with over €500 million of committed growth capital, marking the tenth and largest investment from SREP V and expanding SRE's managed healthcare real estate to about $5.0 billion of AUM. The structure preserves minority stakes for the seller and management, while GREYKITE will act as general partner and lead day-to-day management, which aligns incentives between capital providers and operating management.

Key dependencies and risks include customary regulatory approvals and execution of a secured development pipeline that drives the planned expansion to ~15,000 beds across 75 facilities; delays in approvals or construction would affect capacity and projected contribution to supply. Watch progress on regulatory clearances and the deployment cadence of the stated €500 million growth capital over the next multi-year expansion period, with initial material milestones expected within 12–36 months.

Healthcare Real Estate Analyst

Transaction materially scales a leading care-home operator, addressing quantified supply gaps in Spain's senior care sector.

Vitalia operates 75 facilities and aims to own and operate about 15,000 beds, representing a 2.5% market share in a fragmented market; the announcement cites a projected 40% shortfall in new care-home delivery by 2030, and states Vitalia plans to deliver roughly half of new beds over that period. The combination of asset-backed operator scale, retained management equity, and explicit growth capital funding creates a clear runway for capacity expansion and service model replication across Spain.

Risks center on converting the secured pipeline into operating beds and maintaining service quality during rapid growth; investors should monitor pipeline conversion rates, construction timelines, and regulatory approvals. Relevant near-term items to watch include receipt of customary regulatory approvals and the pace of capital deployment and bed deliveries over the next 24–36 months.

LONDON and MADRID, Oct. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StepStone Real Estate (SRE), the real estate arm of StepStone Group (Nasdaq: STEP) and GREYKITE (GK), the independent European real estate investment firm, announce the planned recapitalization of Vitalia, Spain’s second largest care home owner-operator, through the agreement to acquire a majority interest in Vitalia from Vivaly Investments BV, a portfolio investment of CVC Fund VI and Portobello Capital Fund III, and the commitment of over €500 million in growth capital. Both Vivaly Investments BV and Vitalia’s founder and senior management team will be retaining minority stakes. GREYKITE will be acting as the general partner on behalf of the shareholders, leading day to day management of the investment. The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Vitalia is the benchmark for residential quality in Spain with its ‘homes for living’ model;  pioneering a resident-centered care model that focuses on at home and onsite rehabilitation, dedicated tech enabled 24-hour medical support, and restraint free care. Vitalia benefits from a best-in-class management team that has been with the business since its inception and brings over 50 years of combined experience.

The company currently operates 75 care home facilities, and with a substantial secured pipeline of new developments, will own and operate approximately 15,000 beds across Spain. With a 2.5% market share in a fragmented and undersupplied sector and demand driven by Spain’s rapidly aging population, the company is well-positioned to address a projected 40% shortfall in new care home delivery by 2030 by delivering approximately 50% of new beds over that period.

The transaction follows the successful close of StepStone Real Estate Partners V (SREP V) in April 2025, which raised over $5 billion in total commitments including affiliated discretionary co-investments vehicles. The transaction will mark the tenth investment in SREP V and its largest to date, emphasizing SRE’s GP-Led strategy of recapitalizing scaled real estate platforms alongside existing managers and owners. It also reflects StepStone’s growing focus on Spain, where the firm is expanding across multiple strategies including primary capital deployment into Spanish funds. Importantly, this investment builds SRE’s successful and global track record in the healthcare real estate sector, where it will manage post-transaction approximately $5.0 billion of AUM.

This transaction also follows the formal launch of GREYKITE and its inaugural discretionary real estate fund, GREYKITE European Real Estate Fund I (the “Fund”) in March 2024. Vitalia will be the Fund’s eighth portfolio company investment and second headquartered in Spain, and is consistent with GREYKITE’s focus on thematic real estate platform investments across the broader Living, Industrial and Digital sectors.

The partnership between SRE and GREYKITE positions both firms as strategic investors in Spain’s care home space through what will be the sector’s largest transaction in the country in the past decade. Together with Vitalia’s management, the firms aim to focus on supporting the company’s expansion and continuing to deliver the very best care for its residents across Spain.

Josh Cleveland, Co-Founding Partner and Head of EMEA at StepStone Real Estate, said: “Deploying SREP V into opportunities like Vitalia demonstrates the strength of our strategy – recapitalizing and supporting essential real estate businesses when traditional avenues for liquidity are constrained. With strong demographic tailwinds and limited new supply, Spain is a compelling growth market where we are making a broader push across our platform. We are excited to partner with GREYKITE, Vivaly Investments BV, and Vitalia’s management to drive the company’s next phase of expansion.”

Michael Abel, Founder and CEO of GREYKITE, said: “We are pleased to partner with StepStone on our eighth investment strategy in GREYKITE Real Estate Fund I, which continues our focus on the thematically supported living, industrial and digital sectors. Spain, considered one of the best-performing economies in Europe, is a key market for us, as we continue to optimize our portfolio construction. Vitalia represents a compelling opportunity to invest in a scaled, asset-backed platform with a strong market position, in a sector with very compelling medium and long-term demographic-led growth drivers. This investment will build on our long-standing relationship with StepStone and we are excited to collaborate on this exceptional and rare growth opportunity.”

Chema Cosculluela, CEO of Vitalia, added: “I am excited to continue leading the company, together with my existing management team, and to work closely with our new shareholders. Their support and vision will help us build on our strong foundation, accelerate our growth, and unlock new opportunities for our customers, employees, and partners.”

For further information:

Shareholder Relations for StepStone:
Seth Weiss
shareholders@stepstonegroup.com 
Tel: +1-212-351-6106

Media for StepStone:
Brian Ruby / Chris Gillick / Matt Lettiero, ICR
StepStonePR@icrinc.com 
Tel: +1-203-682-8268

Media for GREYKITE – FTI Consulting
Dido Laurimore/Richard Gotla
greykite@fticonsulting.com
Tel: +44 20 3727 1000

About StepStone Group
StepStone Group Inc. (Nasdaq: STEP) is a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to its clients. As of June 30, 2025, StepStone was responsible for approximately $723 billion of total capital, including $199 billion of assets under management. StepStone’s clients include some of the world’s largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, as well as prominent endowments, foundations, family offices and private wealth clients, which include high-net-worth and mass affluent individuals. StepStone partners with its clients to develop and build private markets portfolios designed to meet their specific objectives across the private equity, infrastructure, private debt and real estate asset classes.

For more information, visit StepStone Group.

About GREYKITE
GREYKITE Investment Adviser Limited (together with its affiliates, “GREYKITE”) is an independent European real estate investment firm established in 2023 and headquartered in London. With a high-quality team of 15 professionals, GREYKITE has executed more than $3 billion of corporate and asset-level transactions across Europe in a series of high-conviction sectors. The foundation of GREYKITE’s thematic approach is the application of meticulous market research designed to identify scalable investment opportunities, and thereafter to build leading real estate businesses through a combination of active asset management and value creation initiatives at the real estate and corporate levels. GREYKITE was founded on the principles of partnership and collaboration and is committed to creating long-term-value through transparency and strong alignment of interests of internal and external stakeholders.

GREYKITE Investment Adviser Limited (FRN: 1006868) is an appointed representative of G10 Capital Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 648953)

Important Notice: The Fund mentioned within is only available to Professional Investors within the United Kingdom and the European Union countries where it is duly notified for marketing pursuant to Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers. Retail Investors may not rely on the information within. This is a marketing communication. Please refer to the Fund’s private placement memorandum available upon request before making any final investment decision. This is not an offer to sell, or an invitation for an offer to acquire, an interest in the Fund, nor is it an invitation to apply to participate in the Fund. This is not an offering or placement of interests in the Fund in any jurisdiction and should not be construed as such. No information in this document will form the basis of any contract. 

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/10f926f2-75a2-4ba8-b339-ec14f9ae48de

 

FAQ

What did StepStone (STEP) and GREYKITE announce on October 16, 2025 regarding Vitalia?

They announced a planned recapitalization of Vitalia in a €1.5 billion transaction with majority acquisition and > €500 million of committed growth capital.

How many care homes and beds does Vitalia operate after the recapitalization announcement?

Vitalia currently operates 75 care home facilities and will own and operate about 15,000 beds.

Will Vitalia management keep an ownership stake after the STEP recapitalization?

Yes; Vivaly Investments BV and Vitalia’s founder and senior management will retain minority stakes.

Is the StepStone and GREYKITE Vitalia deal final and closed?

No; the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and has not been completed.

How does this investment affect StepStone Real Estate Partners V (SREP V)?

The Vitalia investment is the tenth and largest investment from SREP V, following the fund’s > $5 billion close in April 2025.

What scale does Vitalia represent in Spain’s care home market?

Vitalia holds about a 2.5% market share in a fragmented and undersupplied Spanish care home sector.