Travers Smith and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are guiding the £1.7bn acquisition of NHS landlord Assura by a US private equity consortium that includes KKR and Stonepeak.
Travers is acting for FTSE 250-listed Assura on the deal, with the team led by head of transactions Aaron Stocks and M&A partner Ben Lowen. The company, which has a £3.1bn portfolio of GP surgeries, primary care centres and community hospitals across the UK and Ireland, said on Wednesday (11 June) it had reached agreement on terms of a “best and final” cash offer from KKR and Stonepeak.
The Simpson Thacher team advising KKR and Stonepeak on the matter is led by Amy Mahon, co-head of the firm’s energy and infrastructure practice, and M&A partner Clare Gaskell. The deal is the latest large European mandates from Stonepeak for the firm, which also guided its €1.5bn acquisition of Italian aerospace and industrial components manufacturer Forgital from Carlyle last December.
Assura had earlier agreed a £1.6bn deal with KKR and Stonepeak, but last month said it was considering a cash and share offer from listed competitor Primary Health Properties, which was advised by CMS.
Andrew Furze, managing director at KKR, said: “After nearly a year of engagement, this is our best and final offer which we believe is lower risk than other alternatives and higher in value, offering a significant premium.”
Bowmans is also acting for KKR and Stonepeak on the South African law aspects of the deal. Since last November, Assura has had a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with the company saying at the time the listing would provide it with a new potential pool of capital to fund its growth.
Nikolaus Woloszczuk, senior managing director at Stonepeak, said its offer “equips Assura with the long-term capital it has not been able to access as a listed business and will enable the company to invest in upgrading critical healthcare infrastructure, delivering improved outcomes for the NHS. Our offer is about growth, not about cost-cutting and disposals”.
The deal marks the latest instance of international buyers taking advantage of the UK’s valuation gap. KKR has been especially active in the UK, turning to Simpson Thacher for its acquisition of a majority stake in telecoms company Hyperoptic in 2019 and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in 2022 when it invested in Northumbrian Water. The firm had also been expected to acquire a £4bn stake in embattled water company Thames Water, though earlier this month it emerged KKR had pulled out of the deal.
For its part, Travers has guided Assura on past matters, including its £185m equity raise in 2020 to develop new healthcare buildings for the NHS and a £300m equity raise in 2017. In both instances, the team was led by Stocks with support from US securities partner Dan McNamee.
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