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Primary Health Properties PLC said on Tuesday its shareholders have supported its plan to acquire peer Assura PLC. The requisite majority of shareholders voted for the Assura takeover at a general meeting on Tuesday. ‘The fact that over 99% of our shareholders voting have approved the proposed combination with Assura is a strong endorsement of the company’s ability to deliver an earnings accretive transaction that is strategically valuable, at an inflection point in the cycle, supported by an expected strong investment grade credit rating, and that will deliver future value to shareholders and underpin the group’s progressive dividend policy,’ Primary Health Properties Chair Harry Hyman said. The shareholder endorsement comes after Assura said on Monday last week it recommended the new cash-share offer from Primary Health Properties. Under the terms of the increased Primary Health Properties offer, Assura shareholders would receive 0.3865 new Primary Health Properties shares and 12.5 pence in cash. In addition, Assura shareholders would be entitled to receive a special dividend of 0.84p per Assura share. Based on the Primary Health Properties closing share price of 103.5p on June 20, the fresh Primary Health Properties offer implies a total value to be received by Assura shareholders of 53.3p for each Assura share. This represents a premium of 5.8% to the value of the best and final cash offer of 50.42p per Assura share, made by Sana Bidco Ltd, a consortium made up of Kohlberg Kravis Robert & Co Inc and property investor Stonepeak Partners LP. In addition, Assura shareholders will be entitled to receive or retain a quarterly dividend of 0.84p per Assura share paid on April 1, and quarterly dividend of 0.84p per Assura share due to be paid on July 9. The revised Primary Health Properties offer, together with the special dividend and the Assura dividends, implies a total value of 55.0p for each Assura share and values Assura at about £1.79 billion. Assura shareholders would hold about 48% of the combined entity, if the deal succeeds. On June 13, Primary Health Properties revised terms of its takeover approach. Shares in Assura were up 0.5% to 50.50p in London on Tuesday afternoon, but they fell 0.6% to R 12.33 in Johannesburg. Primary Health Properties was up 0.9% at 99.76p in London, and it declined 1.6% to R 24.03 in Johannesburg. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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