Over 135 companies have bid to enter a private-public partnership with NHS Estates.
The successful candidate will create a joint venture with the Government, provisionally branded Inventures.
Inventures will take over the commercial interests of the estate, leaving the regulatory and policy functions to the government agency.
Inventures will continue the sale of the NHS’s surplus property, which has an estimated value of £400m, and will also take over the financial, managerial and procurement roles of the estate.
Although the list of bidders is confidential, a spokesman for NHS Estates said that it is looking for “a very large property development and facilities company”. Industry insiders have tipped Carillion and Amey as likely bidders.
EGi News 09/07/01
