Assura splashes out £48.8m on medical centres
Warrington-based primary care property investor and developer Assura completed the acquisition of 22 medical centres for a total of £48.8m in the last three months of 2016, the third quarter of its financial year.
The properties have a passing rent roll of £2.5m and a weighted average unexpired lease length of 13.8 years.
The listed company said it has a further pipeline of individual asset acquisitions and developments currently in solicitors’ hands worth approximately £103m.
Assura now owns 385 medical centres with a total annualised rent roll of £72.7m (September 30, 2016: £70.1m), with growth in the financial year to date driven primarily by acquisitions.
The company highlights that the NHS has identified more than 200 new-build primary care schemes for investment under the Estates and Technology Transformation Fund as part of its plans to support the increase in services available in the primary care setting.
Assura says the investment will be a very positive step as the NHS looks to relieve the pressures in the secondary care healthcare system, although the timescale is uncertain and the funding announced to date is insufficient for full implementation of all of the schemes identified.
Interim chief executive Jonathan Murphy said: “Assura made good progress in the third quarter, completing further investment activity and delivering improved primary care space into the market.
“The long-term solution to the challenges facing the NHS is widely agreed to include more healthcare being provided in the primary care sector, by GPs.
“This in turn will require investment in GP premises. We are pleased that the Government has shown its support for this by the ETTF. Firm timetables and funding to turn these plans into reality are now essential if the benefits to the NHS are to be achieved within the five-year timeframe of the GP Forward View.”
