GP surgery owner Assura may quit the London stock market after US buyout giant KKR bids £1.6bn

By JESSICA CLARK

Updated: 22:08 GMT, 10 March 2025

GP surgery owner Assura looks likely to join the exodus from the London stock market after a US buyout giant lodged an improved £1.6billion takeover bid.

The board of the London-listed real estate investment trust yesterday said it would be ‘minded’ to accept the latest proposal from KKR after rejecting four bids.

The swoop, which would be the largest takeover of a London-listed REIT in recent years, comes as the City faces an exodus of listed companies as predators snap up undervalued firms.

Assura owns doctors’ surgeries, hospitals and hospices across the UK, and is a major landlord to the NHS.

KKR, one of the biggest private equity outfits in the US, has teamed up with New York investment firm Stonepeak on the takeover attempt.

The latest offer of 49.4p per Assura share is a 2.9 per cent increase on KKR’s previous bid, which had valued the FTSE 250 firm at £1.56billion.

Shares up: GP surgery owner Assura said it would be ‘minded’ to accept the latest proposal from KKR after rejecting four bids

While Assura’s share price surged 14.3 per cent yesterday to 46.56p, it remained under the offer price, which suggested that investors were not convinced that it is a done deal.

The company’s board also revealed that it had rejected a rival 43p per share merger offer from Primary Health Properties (PHP).

Under takeover rules, PHP has until April 7 to make a firm bid for Assura or walk away from the deal.

The KKR and Stonepeak bid ‘provides shareholders with the opportunity to receive cash consideration at a significantly higher value per share, with materially less risk’, a spokesman for the Assura board said.

Directors have ‘decided to engage in discussions’ with the group and allow it to complete due diligence checks.

The latest bid is a 31.9 per cent premium to Assura’s share price on February 13, before takeover interest was made public.

Russ Mould, investment director broker at AJ Bell, said: ‘Increased bids have become a regular occurrence over the past few years as bidders first try their luck with a cheeky offer and then play fair with a higher price a few days, weeks or months later.’

But he warned ‘Assura’s shareholders might feel they aren’t being compensated adequately’ and added: ‘After all, they would be giving up an investment that could generate much greater returns over time.’

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GP surgery owner Assura may quit the London stock market after US buyout giant KKR bids £1.6bn

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