GP landlord Assura (AGR) has completed the development of three medical centres in Lanchester, Market Weighton and Blaenavon, and has bought a medical centre in Wellington. The three completions have a combined value of £11m, with a weighted average un-expired lease term of 24.5 years. Rents under the leases are worth £660,000, and the combined yield on cost is 7.3 per cent. The medical centre in Wellington has a 30-year lease, cost £1.75m and has a rental yield of 6.3 per cent.
In a further development the real estate investment trust acquired a portfolio of 11 medical centres for £63.1m through the purchase of the entire share capital of Metro MRI. A majority of these are under five years old, and carry an unexpired lease term of 20.3 years. They support around 90 GPs offering services to 115,000 patients.
Assura has also agreed with former Metro owners to fund four additional medical centres to be developed by Metro for Assura, with a value on completion of £21m. Assura’s medical centre portfolio now stands at 247 primary medical health centres with a contracted passing rent of £52.9m a year. Buying out Metro will cost around £18.5m but Assura will also assume debt of £44.3m. Metro has agreed to accept around £9m through the issue of 18.8m new shares in Assura. The acquisition will add 7 per cent to Assura’s rent roll, and is high quality, with 89 per cent contracted to GPs or NHS bodies. What’s more, the current passing rent is £3.4m, but the estimated rental value, which means all rents calculated at current rates, is £4.1m.
