Assura urged to reject bid from predator KKR
The battle for the future of GP surgery owner Assura escalated yesterday after a rival urged it to reject a bid from a private equity predator.
Assura this week recommended that shareholders accept a sweetened £1.7billion bid from American buyout giant KKR and New York investment firm Stonepeak.
The deal would see properties leased to the NHS, including doctors' surgeries, hospitals and hospices, fall into the hands of overseas owners.
Most recently, Primary Health Properties (PHP) offered £1.68billion to buy Assura but it argued yesterday that its cash and stock bid is now worth more – as the value moves depending on share prices.
And PHP dismissed Assura's claim that its offer posed 'material risks and downsides' for shareholders as it urged investors to take no action in relation to KKR's bid.
A takeover by PHP would retain the properties under the ownership of a London-listed business. And it said Government spending plans for the NHS over the next three years would benefit both firms.
KKR and PHP have been locked in a months-long tussle which has seen both parties
up their offers several times since February to try to clinch a deal.
The US private equity giant has made a 'best and final' cash offer of £1.7billion, up from its previous bid of £1.61billion.
The bid of 52.1p per share includes two dividends: one which has already been paid and another that was declared last month.
Russ Mould, investment director at broker AJ Bell, said: 'Shareholders in Assura now have the luxury of sitting back to watch what happens, in the view that some sort of deal seems certain.'
Assura declined to comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
17 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Amazon data centres to consume ‘as much electricity to power Burnley'
A complex of huge data centres being built by Amazon in Britain will consume as much electricity needed to power a town the size of Burnley, campaigners have claimed. The proposed data centres, near Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire, are projected to consume around 114.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year. This equivalent to the power consumed by more than 42,500 UK households, according to researchers at Global Action Plan, which is campaigning against the development. It exceeds the number of homes in Burnley, which stood at 41,955 after the most recent Census in 2021. Planning documents show the two data centres in the development will include 42 back-up diesel generators, each around 25 metres tall, that need to be fired up fortnightly to check they are working. It is estimated this will produce the same emissions as 1,079 homes heated by gas. The plans were lodged with Central Bedfordshire Council by Colliers Properties, a known partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the retail giant's cloud computing division. The documents name Amazon Data Services UK as the site's eventual operator. Known as Linmere Island, the project would sit on an empty 22-acre greenfield site. While the plans also include 140 solar panels, it is not clear how much power they will supply to the data centres.
Times
22 minutes ago
- Times
Trump tariffs leave UK firms scrambling to renegotiate contracts
British companies are looking to renegotiate supplier contracts as they scramble to find savings that can protect them from the impact of escalating US tariffs, according to new data. A survey of firms with more than 5,000 employees found that 90 per cent fear that President Trump's import duties would hurt their revenues and profits, with businesses looking at a series of ways to manage rising costs. More than half (55 per cent) said their main tool to deal with tariff threats was to review existing contracts to find savings or renegotiate better terms with break clauses that could account for the imposition of new levies, according to Acertis, which provides contract management software. Bernadette Bulacan at Icertis said companies' first resort 'to protect margins is to take a critical look at customer and supplier relationships. For many companies, the path to surviving tariff disruption starts not with policy lobbying but with a forensic look at what's already been committed to on paper.' She said firms were taking measures to include rules of termination and force majeure clauses in contracts to deal with costs caused by tariffs, while also seeking out new suppliers in countries that were not affected by sweeping US levies. The Trump administration applied a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs he had announced on most of the world economy on April 8, which is due to expire in early July. The president has signed a partial tariff deal with the UK, but most British goods will still be subject to a 10 per cent tariff when selling to US markets, raising the average US tariff rate from about 1 per cent last year to more than 6 per cent. The European Union is also in talks with the White House about avoiding a potential 55 per cent tariff on all its goods exports. • Britain's exporters at a loss over US tariff turmoil The debate over contractual terms between suppliers and customers is part of a swathe of legal complexities about who should shoulder the cost of import taxes. In April, Howmet Aerospace, an American supplier of components to the sector, declared a force majeure event that would allow it to stop shipments if it remained subject to US tariffs. Although the full gamut of threatened tariffs has not yet been applied on most countries, recent data has shown a spike in invoice rejections as businesses attempt to delay supplier payments until they have more certainty about US trade policy. Icertis's survey, which included 1,000 companies across Britain, the United States and India, found that just under half of them were 're-evaluating' where to find suppliers to avoid tariffs, restructuring their supply chains and manufacturing plants, and also considering 'sunsetting relationships that no longer serve under new cost and compliance pressures'. About 40 per cent of UK firms said they would absorb higher costs into their margins and just over a third said they were planning to raise prices charged to consumers to deal with tariffs. Bulacan said companies should also consider price adjustment clauses that account for tariff changes. 'In the same way that force majeure clauses changed fundamentally during the pandemic, these clauses could be invoked against new tariffs to prevent potential losses,' she said.
Times
22 minutes ago
- Times
High earners face surge in tax investigations
High earners face a surge in tax investigations after HM Revenue & Customs doubled revenues from inquiries into the wealthiest Britons last year. A freedom of information request has revealed that HMRC's wealthy and mid-sized business compliance directorate, which examines the tax affairs of those earning more than £200,000 a year or with assets above £2 million, yielded more than £1.5 billion in 2024, double the amount raised the previous year. The success of the unit has led to a decision to hire an extra 400 specialist compliance officers, who will be added over the next four years. The government hopes the move will bring in at least another £500 million in tax revenues by 2030. Accountants have said the number of investigations into wealthy individuals will inevitably increase.
