28 Jul 2017 14:46
Press Release
For immediate release
28 July 2017
MedicX Fund Limited
("MedicX Fund", "the Fund" or "the Company")
Board changes
MedicX Fund (LSE: MXF), the specialist primary care infrastructure investor in modern, purpose-built, primary healthcare properties in the United Kingdom and Ireland today announces that the Board have approved two changes as part of its succession planning and in readiness for the Company seeking to convert to a UK REIT.
As announced on 15 March 2017, subject to shareholder approval at an EGM, notice of which will be sent in the next few weeks, the Company will seek entry into the UK REIT regime on 29 September 2017. Among certain other things, this will require the majority of Board members to be UK resident from that date. Currently, the majority of Board members are not UK resident.
The Board is therefore delighted to announce its intention, subject to shareholder approval to seek to enter the UK REIT regime, to appoint Laure Duhot, who is resident in the UK, to the Board as a non-executive director with effect from 29 September 2017.
Laure currently acts for a number of property firms and investors across Europe, providing strategic advice and transaction support, with a focus on alternative real estate assets.
Up to the end of 2016, Laure was a managing director at Grainger plc where she was responsible for fund management and corporate finance for a number of fund vehicles operating in the UK and Germany, among which was the £650 million GRIP REIT which she was instrumental in setting-up in 2012 and which listed as a REIT in 2016.
Prior to her time at Grainger plc, Laure was a senior executive with Pradera, and before that, with Sunrise Senior Living Inc, the leading US senior living operator, where she was responsible for international expansion playing a key role establishing the firm's UK business. Laure has also acted as a non-executive director on a number of company boards over the past 15 years, with current mandates including MIC Limited and The Guinness Partnership, where she is also a member of the Group Audit & Risk Committee.
The Company also re-confirms that, subject to shareholder approval to seek to enter into the UK REIT regime, Shelagh Mason, who is resident in Guernsey, will retire from the Board with effect from 29 September 2017. The combination of Shelagh's retirement and Laure's appointment will ensure that from 29 September 2017, the majority of Board members will be UK resident.
David Staples, Chairman of MedicX Fund, commented:
"Although the appointment of Laure remains subject to shareholder approval of the Company's intention to seek to enter the UK REIT regime, we are delighted to welcome her to the Board. Her experience and expertise in corporate development and strategic finance, together with her experience of the UK REIT regime, will be of great benefit to the Company and the Board as the Company moves through a period of exciting change.
Although she still has two months left to serve, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Shelagh for her extraordinary contribution both as a director and as a member of the Audit Committee. Shelagh joined the Board at launch nearly eleven years ago and has been invaluable to us throughout. We wish her all the best in her other ventures."
End
For further information please contact:
MedicX Fund +44 (0) 1481 723 450
David Staples, Chairman
Octopus Healthcare Group +44 (0) 20 3142 4820
Mike Adams, Chief Executive Officer
Canaccord Genuity +44 (0) 20 7523 8000
Andrew Zychowski/Helen Goldsmith
Buchanan +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Charles Ryland/Victoria Hayns
Information on MedicX Fund Limited
MedicX Fund Limited ("MXF", the "Fund" or the "Company", or together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") is the specialist primary care infrastructure investor in modern, purpose-built primary healthcare properties in the United Kingdom, listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a portfolio comprising 157 properties.
The Investment Adviser to the Company is Octopus Healthcare Adviser Ltd, which is part of the Octopus Healthcare group. Octopus Healthcare invests in and develops properties as well as creating partnerships to deliver innovative healthcare buildings to improve the health, wealth and wellbeing of the UK. It currently manages over £1 billion of healthcare investments across a number of platforms, with a focus on five core areas: GP surgeries, care homes, special education schools, retirement housing and private hospitals. Octopus Healthcare is part of the Octopus group, a fast-growing UK fund management business with leading positions in several specialist sectors including healthcare property, energy, property finance and smaller company investing. Octopus manages £6 billion of funds for more than 50,000 retail and institutional investors.
Octopus Healthcare Adviser Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The Company's website address is www.medicxfund.com. Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website), nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks within this announcement, are incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
The Company's Legal Entity Identifier is 2138008POF35FTNFCB25.