REG - Assura plc - Assura & USS announce £250m joint venture

AssuraAnnouncement

21/05/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 2385P  Assura PLC  21 May 2024

21 May 2024

Assura plc

Assura & USS announce £250m joint venture

Assura plc (Assura) and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS),
today announce they have entered into a new £250m 20:80 joint venture to
support investment in essential NHS infrastructure.

A strategic partnership has been formed between USS, the principal pension
scheme for universities and higher education institutions in the UK with over
£75bn of assets under management, and Assura, the specialist healthcare
property investor and developer.

This long-term partnership will support investment into essential NHS
community healthcare buildings, which help to address the current backlog of
patients waiting for care. As the population ages and more people live with
chronic conditions, modern, flexible healthcare buildings are central to the
NHS's priority of delivering more care closer to patients.

The joint venture has an initial term of 20 years and will be seeded with an
initial agreed portfolio of seven assets (£107 million), transferred from
Assura's existing portfolio at a small discount to the March 2024 valuation.
The joint venture is targeting acquisition-led growth to £250 million over
the next three years, with potential to grow to £400 million thereafter. The
joint venture will focus exclusively on assets let directly to NHS or GP
tenants with rents linked to inflation or with fixed uplifts.

Assura will retain a 20% equity interest in the JV and act as property and
asset manager, receiving asset management fees linked to the valuation of the
portfolio.

The transaction will further strengthen Assura's balance sheet, bringing
additional diversity to the available funding sources to support Assura's
continued growth trajectory.

It is intended that the net cash proceeds received (£85 million) will be
recycled into Assura's attractive pipeline of acquisition and development
opportunities across medical centres and broader healthcare markets.

Lazard & Co., Limited acted as exclusive financial adviser to Assura.

Jonathan Murphy, CEO of Assura, said:

"We are delighted to announce this exciting transaction with a high-quality
and long-term capital partner in USS.

"This important transaction highlights the attractive investment
characteristics in the healthcare sector and specifically the long term
resilient cash flows generated by our assets.

"As well as demonstrating our ability to re-deploy capital into our pipeline
of opportunities in broader healthcare markets, we have sourced new capital
that will fund investment in healthcare infrastructure that is so badly needed
to enable better health outcomes."

Alex Turner, Head of Property at USS, said:

"We are looking forward to working with Assura on this exciting joint venture.
As a long term investor, we believe that investing in important UK
infrastructure and paying our members pensions are strongly aligned as these
kinds of assets can provide inflation-linked income over many years.
Healthcare is a very important sector and we're delighted to support
investment in essential social infrastructure."

- Ends -

 

For more information, please contact:

 Assura plc                                   Tel: 0161 515 2043
 Jayne Cottam, CFO                            Email: Investor@assura.co.uk

 David Purcell, Investor Relations Director

 FGS Global                                   Tel: 0207 251 3801

 Gordon Simpson                               Email: Assura@fgsglobal.com

 

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the
EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014 and has been announced in accordance
with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation.

 

Lazard & Co., Limited ("Lazard"), which is authorised and regulated in the
United Kingdom by the FCA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to
Assura and no one else in connection with the transaction referred to in this
announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than Assura for
providing the protections afforded to clients of Lazard nor for providing
advice in relation to such transaction or any other matters referred to in
this announcement. Neither Lazard nor any of its affiliates (nor any of their
respective directors, officers, employees or agents), owes or accepts any
duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect,
whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is
not a client of Lazard in connection with the transaction referred to in this
announcement, this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

About Assura

Assura plc is the UK's leading specialist healthcare property investor and
developer. Assura enables better health services through its portfolio of more
than 600 healthcare buildings, from which over six million patients are
served.

A UK REIT based in Altrincham, Assura is a constituent of the FTSE 250 and the
EPRA* indices. As at 31 March 2024, Assura's portfolio was valued at £2.7
billion and has a strong track record of growing financial returns and
dividends for shareholders.

At Assura, we BUILD for health, having developed over 100 new healthcare
buildings in our history, and at the heart of our strategy sits The Bigger
Picture; Healthy Environment (E), Healthy Communities (S), Healthy Business
(G).

Further information is available at www.assuraplc.com

*EPRA is a registered trademark of the European Public Real Estate
Association.

 

About USS

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) was established in 1974 as the
principal pension scheme for universities and higher education institutions in
the UK. We work with around 330 employers to help build a secure financial
future for 528,000 members and their families. We are one of the largest
pension schemes in the UK, with total assets of around £75.5bn (at 31 March
2023).

More information can be found at uss.co.uk

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