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NHS landlord Primary Health Properties is lining up bankers at Rothschild & Co to sell a hospital portfolio potentially worth about £700mn, in what would be one of the most sizeable UK real estate assets to be put on the market in recent months.

The process, which is in its early stages, involves a basket of assets that is expected to include hospitals in the Northwest Healthcare Properties and Ramsay Health Care businesses, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

Most of the assets were part of Assura, the London-listed group that PHP bought in August in a £1.8bn deal after a hotly contested takeover battle with a KKR-led consortium. 

The potential sale, which is expected to take until next year, comes as PHP looks to divest non-core properties after the takeover.  

“We have plans to dispose of assets to reduce leverage, as communicated to shareholders throughout the Assura acquisition process,” said PHP chief executive Mark Davies when approached by the FT for comment. 

He said that options under consideration “include the possibility of a strategic joint venture”.

He added that the company had started a detailed review of the portfolio, which could take six months, “so it’s too soon to comment further at this stage”.

As part of its offer for Assura, PHP said the two companies’ portfolios were “highly complementary” and generated most of their rental income from long leases, including to government-backed primary healthcare properties.

Assura’s private hospital assets, however, were not considered core to the combined business and PHP said it would divest them.

PHP last month said it had received clearance for the Assura deal from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and would focus on integrating the two businesses.

Rothschild declined to comment.