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The US Private Equity Consortium has agreed to a £1.7bn deal for NHS landlord Asella in its latest acquisition of the London-listed company following a months-long bidding process.
Astera, who owns surgery and medical centres for hundreds of UK doctors, said on Wednesday that she had reached an agreement on the terms of the “best final” cash offer from KKR and Stonepeak.
The company agreed to a £1.6 billion bid from KKR and Stonepeak in April, but last month it said it would consider offers from its rivals’ key health characteristics.
“After nearly a year of engagement, we consider this to be our best final offer, a lower risk and higher value than other alternatives,” said Andrewfers, managing director of KKR.
Making a final offer means that the KKR Consortium will not be permitted to increase bids unless consent is obtained from the UK acquisition panel.
The consortium is currently facing a fight to convince shareholders to accept the offer.
The group switched bids to takeover offers, meaning that the transaction can be made if it wins support of more than 50% of Assura’s shareholders. Previously, they planned to implement the acquisition via a placement scheme that required a higher level of acceptance.
People familiar with the two private equity groups said they were involved in Astera’s management for almost a year.
The acquisition group had planned to provide capital for Assura to build new facilities, upgrade existing facilities such as GP surgery and ambulance depots, and make acquisitions.
KKR and Stonepeak fund transactions through open-ended funds. This allows the consortium to support Asenra in the long term, without the need to return the investor’s cash until a certain day.
The acquisition marks the latest decommission of the London-listed group. This week, Private Equity Group Advent International said it was a consultation to buy Industrial Group Spectrics on a £4.4 billion deal, and U.S. semiconductor group Qualcomm agreed to a $2.4 billion acquisition of chip designer Alpha Wave.
Last week, UK FinTechwise announced plans to move its main list to the US, following plumbing group Ferguson and building materials company CRH.
On Wednesday, Canadian Professional Services Group WSP Global agreed to a £281 million offer to UK-listed engineering consultant Tricardo.
