Assura, a leading British healthcare REIT, is weighing a £1.5bn cash-and-stock offer from rival REIT Primary Health Properties (PHP) amid ongoing takeover interest from a US private equity consortium led by KKR and Stonepeak Partners, according to a report by Reuters.
The latest PHP bid, worth 46.2 pence per share, marks the seventh proposal received by Assura in as many weeks. While an improvement on PHP’s earlier 43 pence offer, it still trails the 49.4 pence all-cash bid tabled by the KKR–Stonepeak consortium, which would result in Assura’s de-listing and integration into a private equity-owned portfolio.
The contrasting bids have put shareholders at a crossroads, weighing a higher all-cash exit from institutional investors against a lower offer that would preserve the company’s public listing. Assura’s board has so far shown a willingness to engage with private equity suitors, stating last month it could recommend a final offer based on the KKR–Stonepeak terms.
For private equity firms, Assura – a REIT with over 600 healthcare assets, largely leased to the UK’s National Health Service – represents a coveted infrastructure-like play. The portfolio provides predictable, inflation-linked income, making it highly attractive in a high-rate, macro-uncertain environment.
PHP’s offer, meanwhile, would see Assura shareholders receive 0.3848 new PHP shares, 9.08 pence in cash, and retain their quarterly dividend. Post-transaction, Assura investors would hold 48% of the enlarged group, with a “mix and match” facility offered to tailor the cash-equity split.
“The bid by PHP looks like a calculated risk,” said Oli Creasey, Head of Property Research at Quilter Cheviot. “Several Assura shareholders were frustrated by the board’s engagement with an all-cash private equity bid that would remove the business from public markets.”
While PHP’s revised offer values Assura at a 23.5% premium to its pre-bid share price, it remains structurally less attractive for investors seeking an immediate liquidity event — particularly amid market volatility. Still, PHP may be banking on support from shareholders who prefer a continued public-market presence and potential upside from a merged REIT structure.
The KKR–Stonepeak consortium now has until 11 April to submit a formal offer. The looming deadline sets the stage for a potential bidding war between strategic and private equity buyers — a dynamic increasingly common in real estate and infrastructure-linked sectors where private capital is flush with dry powder and hungry for stable yield.
Private equity bidders declined to comment on PHP’s latest proposal. Meanwhile, shares in Assura have climbed steadily over the past two months amid takeover speculation, reflecting investor expectations of a premium outcome.
