Prestbury has contracted to acquire, through its Prestbury 1 Limited Partnership, a £686 mln (EUR 1 bn) freehold portfolio of 21 private hospitals across the UK from Swedish-based healthcare provider Capio. The properties will be leased back on new 30-year leases with annual fixed increases at an initial rent of £40 mln, suggesting a net initial yield of 5.8%. Capio was acquired for EUR 2.8 bn last year by a consortium comprising Apax Partners, Nordic Capital and Apax France.

Prestbury has contracted to acquire, through its Prestbury 1 Limited Partnership, a £686 mln (EUR 1 bn) freehold portfolio of 21 private hospitals across the UK from Swedish-based healthcare provider Capio. The properties will be leased back on new 30-year leases with annual fixed increases at an initial rent of £40 mln, suggesting a net initial yield of 5.8%. Capio was acquired for EUR 2.8 bn last year by a consortium comprising Apax Partners, Nordic Capital and Apax France.

Prestbury is the private property investment company led by UK entrepreneur Nick Leslau. He said in a statement that the sale-and-leaseback deal with Capio was concluded in two weeks from start to finish. Bank of Scotland Corporate funded the transaction for P1. 'We have considerable appetite and resources to do much more in the sale-and-leaseback arena,' Leslau said.

Khawar Mann, director at Apax Partners, said the sale-and-leaseback of the UK hospitals was a key part of the company’s strategy in acquiring Capio.

P1 is a discretionary fund with £475 mln (almost EUR 700 mln) of committed cash principally from Prestbury Investment Holdings Ltd (PIHL), Sir Tom Hunter's West Coast Capital, Icelandic investor Baugur and Bank of Scotland. The fund is managed by the Prestbury management team.

Other recent sale-and-leaseback deals completed by Prestbury include 220 pubs from Spirit Group (now Punch Taverns) for £500 mln, budget hotels from Travelodge in two portfolios of £400 mln and £127.5 mln , £140 mln Bank of Scotland London HQ, £100 mln of Southern Cross nursing homes, £85m Halifax High Street shops and £220 mln of Iceland stores and Booker warehouses.