A PROPERTY group has invested over £5 million sterling in the purchase of four Northern Ireland nursing homes.

Nursing Home Properties (NHP), which has bought the homes from the American healthcare group, Exceler, specialises in buying nursing homes from major healthcare companies and subsequently leasing them back to the original owners.

Northern Ireland properties already account for 20 per cent of NHP's portfolio, according to its chief executive Mr Richard Ellert, including five homes leased to the healthcare company Tamaris.