15 Mar 2017 17:58
For immediate release
15 March 2017
MedicX Fund Limited
("MedicX Fund", "the Fund" or "the Company")
REIT Conversion
MedicX Fund Limited, (LSE: MXF), the specialist primary care infrastructure investor in modern, purpose-built, primary healthcare properties in the United Kingdom and Ireland, is pleased to announce that following a period of consultation, the directors have determined that it is in the best interests of shareholders as a whole to convert to a Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT"). It is intended that an EGM will be held later this financial year, allowing shareholders the opportunity to vote on a resolution to become UK tax resident and convert into a REIT, with effect from 1 October 2017.
As the Fund matures and generates increasing amounts of taxable profit, conversion to REIT status will have the benefit of protecting shareholder returns by virtue of the fact that the regime would exempt the group from UK corporation tax on its profits (income and gains) from its qualifying UK property rental business, as well as widening the appeal of the Company's shares to potential new investors.
As a REIT, MedicX Fund will continue to be able to make property investment decisions based on the property fundamentals rather than based on potential tax liabilities. In broad terms, the REIT regime seeks to achieve as far as possible the tax treatment that would apply if the Company's shareholders held UK property directly.
To become tax resident in the UK, the Company would move its central management and control from Guernsey to the UK. There will be consequential changes to the composition and membership of the Company's board of directors. The appointment to the Board with effect from 1 April 2017 of Helen Mahy, who is UK resident, which was announced on 22 February, will facilitate this relocation.
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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
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 and Ireland, listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a portfolio comprising 154 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.