Southern Cross interested in Craegmoor - CEO

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's largest care-home operator, Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE.L: Quote, Profile, Research), is looking at buying Britain's fifth-largest provider Craegmoor Healthcare, its CEO said on Monday.

Southern Cross, which has around 37,000 beds, is looking at 4,300-bed company Craegmoor, put up for sale by the private equity arm of Legal & General (LGEN.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Chief Executive Bill Colvin said in a telephone interview following first-half results which beat forecasts. See [nL12418735]

Craegmoor is up for sale for around 300 million pounds ($585.4 million), according to press reports.

(Reporting by Chris Wills)

(chris.wills@thomsonreuters.com; 0044 (0)20 7542 5331; Reuters Messaging: chris.wills.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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Keywords: SOUTHERNCROSS/