Assura raises £110m bond
HEALTHCARE property company Assura Group has raised £110m through a new 10-year secured bond, which pays a fixed rate coupon of 4.75%.
The money has been raised alongside a £35m rights issue announced last week in order to refinance existing borrowings and cancel an interest rate swap which is currently incurring a mark-to-market liability of £62m.
The company said that the bond, raised via its wholly-owned subsidiary Assura Properties plc, would provides “long term secure funding for the Group at a time when UK interest rates are at unprecedented lows”. It replaces a loan from National Australia Bank which was due to expire in March 2013.
Simon Laffin, chairman of Assura, said: “Refinancing the NAB loan is a major part of our programme of securing long term financing for Assura. We are pleased to have secured a 4.75% fixed rate coupon, which is an extremely competitive cost even in today’s markets.
“Our total debt of £370m, set against out total property assets of £542m, now has a weighted average maturity of 13.8 years and a weighted average interest rate of 5.33%.
“This, together with our rights issue, provides a great foundation on which to build our twin objectives of delivering a secure and growing income stream and driving value growth from primary healthcare property.”
Independent Debt Capital Markets acted as sole lead arranger on the bond.
