Comment from Alistair Osborne at The Times18 Mar 2026 21:56
PHP in rude health
Is it what the doctor ordered? Mark Davies, the Primary Health Properties chief, pulled off a rare victory for the markets last year, gazumping KKR and Stonepeak with a £1.7 billion shares-and-cash bid for the rival Assura. The result? A bigger real estate investment trust, with £6 billion of properties housing 1,000-plus GP surgeries and private hospitals.
Having taken his stethoscope to the whole thing since September’s completion of the deal, what’s he reckon? “Better” than he expected, he says, with more than 80 per cent of the promised £9 million annual synergies in the bag by the full-year results and Davies happy with a deal that’s brought “the best of both” companies. As he admits, “there are things the Assura team do better than PHP”, not least their “development” clout — handy when the government has a ten-year plan to ease pressure on hospitals via a shift to primary care, including 250 new neighbourhood health centres.
NHS landlord Assura backs takeover by PHP in boost for London
Indeed, given the political backdrop, investors would have been nuts to have cashed out. Despite the mudslinging from KKR and Stonepeak, neither is PHP struggling to strike a joint-venture deal for Assura’s portfolio of private hospitals — Davies has four bids at or near net asset value. And, even if NAV per share fell 4 per cent to 99p thanks to shares issued for the deal and bid costs, a 30th consecutive year of dividend growth shows confidence. Despite a 0.3 per cent slip in the shares to 101.1p, so far the bigger PHP looks in decent health.
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