Warrington-based healthcare landlord Assura is looking to double its annual investment as it switches to a REIT in 2013.
The firm builds GPs’ surgeries and primary care centres and said it could spend up to £30m a year on new schemes.
Chief executive Graham Roberts said Assura was on site with eight schemes and had seven in the pipeline, but was in talks for “another 40 or 50” across the UK.
Roberts, a former finance director with British Land, joined Assura in March and said the move to becoming a REIT would help the firm to attract greater investment.
The firm operates a portfolio of around 160 surgeries with a value of £600m, typically let on a 25-year lease with rents covered by the government.
Roberts said the firm may look to sell off some older centres as they entered the last five years of their terms, or were unlikely to have leases renewed.
The firm is also keen to dispose of a 55,000 sq ft building on Daresbury Business Park near Warrington, bought by the previous management for £44m, although Roberts conceded a sale was “unlikely in this market”.
simon.binns@estatesgazette.com
