Primary Health Properties (PHP) has taken a major step forward in its £1.8bn bid for Assura after the rival bid from KKR and Stonepeak lapsed.
The KKR/Stonepeak cash offer received acceptances representing just 16.56% of Assura’s existing issued ordinary share capital. Meanwhile, PHP said it had now received acceptances from almost 63% of Assura shareholders, meaning its offer is now unconditional.
The news follows a last-ditch attempt from the KKR/Stonepeak Consortium to convince Assura’s board to switch its recommendation of offer to its best and final increased cash offer of £1.7m after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an initial investigation into the proposed merger.
However, claims its offer provided higher monetary value, full value certainty, no need for asset sales and no competition or anti-trust risk, failed to sway the board or shareholders in Assura.
PHP described the CMA’s initial enforcement order as a ‘planned, conventional and necessary step of the CMA process’.
Shareholders who accepted the bid by 12 August will begin receiving payment and new PHP shares from 14 August, alongside a special dividend of 0.84p per share. Those who have yet to accept will be able to do so until a closing date in announced.
Once PHP ownership reaches 75%, Assura will delist from the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges and be re-registered as a private company.
The merger will form a group with nearly £6bn in assets, making it the UK’s largest listed healthcare landlord and the seventh-largest real estate investment trust (REIT).
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