Blackstone looks at £500m tilt for McCarthy & Stone The housebuilder, which is owned by funds including Goldman Sachs and private equity firm TPG, is midway through a strategic review that has triggered interest from potential buyers including Blackstone's buy-out rival CVC. Although a potential deal is still at inception stage, Blackstone has developed a keen interest in the UK housebuilding market. It spent a year analysing the sector at the start of the financial crisis but has rekindled its interest recently now that the entire industry is benefiting from a rebound in confidence. McCarthy & Stone, which has built 45,000 retirement homes in the last 35 years, saw its sales rise 12pc to £257.7m last year. Earnings jumped 10pc to £39.9m, despite a tough housing market. Last year, when the company built 1,400 properties, was McCarthy and Stone's best performance since 2007, with expectations earnings will grow to £45m this year. Public company rivals, such as Persimmon and Redrow have also seen profits soar recently, while institutional fund managers flocked to last month's £550m float of UK housebuilder Crest Nicholson. McCarthy & Stone has recovered strongly since being viewed as one of the victims of the credit crunch. It had been taken private with some fanfare by Sir Tom Hunter and the Reuben brothers in a flagship HBOS £1.1bn deal in 2006. But in 2009, it wound up in a forced debt-for-equity swap that left Lloyds Banking Group holding a 25pc stake. Lloyds has since sold its stake to Goldman Sachs and US buyout firm TPG. McCarthy and Stone also has £500m debt due to be re-paid in April 2014. Lenders are led by the equity holders as well as other alternative investment funds like Oaktree Capital. The Reuben brothers still hold a small stake in the debt. In November, Mark Elliott - former chief executive of Arena Leisure was brought to run McCarthy. The Reubens were also investors in Arena. Mr Elliott met with lenders at the start of the year, proposing options for dealing with the debt. The next meeting is due in April, when depending on the appetite from buyers, Mr Elliott will present final options for how to take the company forward. Earlier this month, chairman Alan Bowkett stepped down in order to team up with CVC on its bid. Mr Bowkett is also chairman of Norwich City football club.