UK healthcare premises investor and developer MedicX has raised a further £55m of equity for its Healthfund.
It is the second fundraising for the vehicle, which last summer raised initial equity of around £45m.
The new equity was raised from existing investors in the fund, which include BNP Paribas REIM on behalf of National Grid UK Pension Scheme, Henderson Global Investors, Merseyside Pension Fund and Prudential. Schroders has also joined the fund’s line-up of UK institutional and pension fund investors.
MedicX Healthfund invests in specialist-care private hospitals and diagnostic clinics. It also develops facilities to feed into the fund. It is expected that development will become a core part of the vehicle.
The Healthfund buys modern purpose-built UK healthcare premises let on long-term leases in areas of low supply, with much of the income underwritten by government bodies such as the NHS or primary care trusts.
The vehicle targets an internal rate of return of 12%.
The UK healthcare property market produced a strong performance in 2010, recording a return of 11.1%, according to the IPD UK Annual Healthcare Index released in June.
The potential for growth in the healthcare sector has tempted investment managers such as Aegon Asset Management, which last year seeded a new healthcare fund with £30m of its own equity before raising further funds.
