Assura mulls takeover by Primary Health Properties, KKR sidelined

Assura PLC on Friday said it is still considering a takeover by Primary Health Properties PLC, after indefinitely adjourning voting on a rival bid from a consortium led by KKR & Co LP.

Assura is a property developer and investor focused on healthcare facilities, based in Altrincham, England, and dual-listed in London and Johannesburg.

Sana Bidco Ltd is a consortium formed by private equity firm KKR and property investor Stonepeak Partners LP, both New York-based. Back in April, Sana offered to buy Assura for £1.61 billion, or 49.4 pence per share.

Assura’s board in April formally recommended Sana’s offer after rejecting a rival bid from peer Primary Health, a London-based healthcare property investor. Primary Health’s offer valued Assura at 46.2p per share and £1.5 billion in total.

Primary Health in May responded with a fresh proposal of 12.5p and 0.3769 of a new Primary Health share for each Assura share, valuing Assura at 51.7p per share and £1.68 billion in total. As a result, Assura adjourned meetings scheduled for Thursday, in which shareholders would have voted on accepting Sana’s offer.

On Friday morning, Assura shares were up 0.4% to 48.56p in London but down 0.1% at R 11.74 in Johannesburg.

As of Thursday, the meetings were adjourned ‘until further notice’. Assura said reciprocal due diligence with Primary Health is ongoing, though it plans to complete the process ‘in a timely manner’. The firm has not provided a deadline for its recommendation of the Primary Health bid.

Assura on Friday noted that Sana has approval for its proposal from the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China, the Israeli Competition Authority and the Korea Fair Trade Commission.

Additionally, Assura published a valuation report for six of its Irish properties, as part of the takeover considerations.

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