Latest news with #Assura
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Private Equity Cash Is No Longer King in UK M&A
Two big-hitting US private firms are struggling with UK takeovers that would previously have been pushovers. The buyout industry should beware. Investors want alternatives to cashing out to private equity — and corporate bidders seem increasingly willing to provide them. KKR & Co. has been trying to buy hospital operator Assura Plc, and had won the backing of the board for its £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) cash offer. Another health-care real estate firm, Primary Health Properties Plc, dangled a rival bid giving Assura shareholders some cash plus shares in the enlarged company. The opportunity to stay invested in a bigger UK property portfolio was popular with the specialist real estate players among Assura shareholders. But both the certainty of KKR's offer price and worries about PHP overstretching were initially obstacles to Assura switching sides.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Warehouse REIT spurns private equity predator Blackstone in favour of UK-listed rival Tritax Big Box
Warehouse Reit has become the second firm in days to spurn private equity predators as it jilted Blackstone for UK-listed rival Tritax Big Box. Despite agreeing to sell itself to the world's largest private equity firm earlier this month, it has plumped for a deal that values it at £485million, creating a landlord worth more than £4billion – nudging it close to a possible future entry into the FTSE 100. And it came after the GP surgery owner Assura snubbed private equity group KKR this week to back a £1.8billion bid from rival Primary Health Properties. The deals underline fears over an exodus from London's shrinking stock market amid a take-over frenzy. Warehouse Reit owns dozens of industrial estates, with tenants including Amazon, the NHS, Argos, John Lewis, DHL and Costa Coffee. Blackstone had swooped with a bid at 109p per share, valuing it at £470million. But Warehouse Reit's board decided to withdraw its support for this to back an offer from Tritax, which values the group at 114p per share.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Gates close for private equity: At last, shareholders and boards are standing up to the predators: ALEX BRUMMER
Private equity has been rampaging through Britain's listed companies for too long. So it is refreshing this week to see elements of resistance. The reluctant decision of NHS and healthcare property provider Assura to throw in its lot with direct competitor Primary Health Properties was a victory for shareholder power, given an earlier decision by the board to opt for a deal with KKR. In the lower reaches of the London market, Tritax Big Box and Warehouse Reit opted to merge in preference to the latter throwing in its lot with Blackstone. The default position for many directors, faced with a private equity offer and good premium, is to take the money and run. Senior executives march off with wodges of cash in the shape of salary and pensions. Options, which otherwise would take several years to mature, are immediately vested. There is also a drumbeat of advice from investment bankers and City lawyers suggesting that to turn down deals would be a breach of fiduciary duty. Fools gold: There are too few examples of British firms taking the private equity shilling coming back to the public market in durable shape The reality is that many transactions should never have happened. The premium to market share prices has been inadequate given the discount at which many stocks sell on the London exchange. If there were not a perceived shortfall in values the exodus to New York and decisions to seek initial public offerings across the Atlantic would be less frequent. Nowhere has Britain been more sold short than in defence. Ever since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, governments have been reaping a peace dividend. Military budgets have been slashed, and this has had a material impact on prospects for Britain's engineering and defence contractors. Larger beasts such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce have been shielded by their scale of operations, sensitivity to national security, and the Government's golden share. It has been the second layer of firms, key players in global supply chains, which has been targeted. Consequently, pioneering companies including flight refueller Cobham, submarine sonar firm Ultra Electronics, Meggitt, and several others were swallowed at premiums which must now appear bargains. These deals were done when UK defence and security spending was barely more than 2 per cent or so. The Government already has pencilled in a 2.5 per cent of GDP defence spending target, with a goal of 3 per cent. Nato has gone further with a 5 per cent aspiration. That represents a huge lift in prospects for defence and aerospace stocks, which for many years were investment outcasts because of politically correct antipathy to arms spending. Firms sold off for depressed prices would be soaring in value if the titans of industry, such as Sir Nigel Rudd at Meggitt, had shown greater resistance. Sell-out boards did a poor job for shareholders, weakened the UK's military supply chain, research and development, innovation, and defence of the realm. The loss of proprietary technology, supported by R&D tax breaks and coming out of state-funded universities, is shameful. Poppy Gustafsson offloaded cyber- security developer Darktrace to the private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Now she is a Treasury minister who is seeking to encourage investment. Shares in submarine specialist Babcock have rocketed 129 per cent this year, making it the best performer in the FTSE 100. It demonstrates what might have been. The latest jump in the stock followed an upbeat result for the latest 12 months, with revenues up by 11 per cent to £4.8billion, a jump in operating profits, and 30 per cent lift in the dividend. There are too few examples of British companies taking the private equity shilling coming back to the public market in durable shape. Payments group Worldpay is among the successes, but quickly decamped to New York in a merger and is now out of sight after a succession of deals. Pets at Home returned to the stockmarket, but Britain's devoted animal owners must put up with unnecessarily inflated prices. Private equity has burrowed its way deeply into the foundations of almost every sector of Britain's economy, damaging jobs, innovation and London as a centre for share trading. At last, this week, shareholders and boards demonstrated that there are other choices of ownership, command and control.
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
Ex-minister seeks to protect NHS against foreign ownership
A former minister has called on the government to intervene in foreign takeovers of critical NHS infrastructure such as doctors' surgeries and hospitals. Baroness Altmann, the former pensions minister, raised concerns about overseas private equity firms owning NHS buildings and warned of 'wreckage' such as happened in the care home sector with the collapse of Southern Cross in 2011 and Four Seasons Healthcare in 2019. Writing in The Times, she says: 'Private equity firms stripped equity value from care providers, loaded them with unsustainable debt, and pursued aggressive cost-cutting driven by short-term profit maximisation not patient welfare.' Her comments come as KKR and Stonepeak Partners, the US private equity funds, find themselves in a bidding war for Assura, which owns hundreds of doctors' surgeries around the country. As it stands, the board of Assura is recommending a £1.7 billion deal to merge with its rival, Primary Health Properties, instead.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Buyout giant KKR hit with double defeat in bid battles
US buyout giant KKR has been dealt a double blow after losing out in bidding wars for two British companies. The private equity firm confirmed on Monday it had been trumped in its pursuit of high-tech instruments maker Spectris as the company instead opted for a rival £4.4bn bid from Advent. This came after a KKR-led bid for Assura, the owner of hundreds of GP practices across the UK, was also rejected by the board in favour of a separate offer from listed fund PHP. It marks a rare setback for the New York-based buyout firm, whose staff were once dubbed 'barbarians at the gates' for their aggressive culture. KKR's wide-ranging takeover attempts in Britain also led to it being named as the preferred bidder for troubled utility giant Thames Water. However, it abandoned a £4bn rescue bid earlier this month amid a row over fines and executive bonuses. The private equity firm was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts with initial funding of $120,000 (£88,900) Its assets under management now total $638bn, according to figures from the end of last year. This includes a range of investments in the UK, including utility giant Northumbrian Water, PR firm FGS Global and festival operator Superstruct. KKR is one of a number of private equity deals circling British companies amid an exodus from the London Stock Exchange. But the buyout firm has been stymied in several of its recent efforts as competition for UK takeovers grows. Spectris, which makes instruments and software for use in industries such as pharmaceuticals, said it had agreed a £4.4bn takeover by Advent International, which it said was 'fair and reasonable'. The FTSE 250 company had previously rejected two initial offers from KKR. KKR on Monday said that while it had not made a revised proposal, it was in the 'advanced stages of due diligence and arranging financing commitments' and could still do so. KKR's failed swoop for Assura comes after the NHS landlord recommended a £1.7bn bid tabled by the private equity firm alongside US infrastructure investor Stonepeak. But the approach sparked a backlash from major Assura investors amid concerns the company would be taken off the stock market at too low a price. Assura's board had previously said that the KKR bid offered 'materially less risk' than that of PHP. But it rowed back on Monday, saying PHP's fresh bid 'addressed some of the potential risks'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
