Innisfree PFI Fund today signed up for the first large hospital project – a new £100m hospital for the Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust – under the private finance initiative to reach financial close.
The fund has taken a 25% stake in a special purpose company, The Hospital Company (Darenth) Ltd, set up to design, build, commission, finance and operate a new hospital at Darenth in Kent for the Trust.
Sponsors Tarmac and United Medical Enterprises Ltd together with the equity investors are investing £13m in the project while Innisfree is putting up £3.3m.
The commitment is the fourth to date for Innisfree and its first in the health sector. The fund is currently working on nine of the 16 hospitals that have been given the go-ahead by the NHS to secure funding under PFI. The next two transactions it expects to close are PFI projects for the South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust and the Norfolk & Norwich Trust.
Innisfree director Mark Webber said: “Closing this project is a significant milestone in the development of PFI in the health sector. This is an excellent opportunity for Innisfree and we expect to follow it with more hospital projects in the future.”
EGi News 31/07/97
