Pricing of £300m senior unsecured bond

RNS Number : 5115U

Assura PLC

12 July 2018

 

12 July 2018

Assura plc

Successful pricing of £300 million senior unsecured bond

Assura plc ("Assura") is pleased to announce the pricing of its first sterling-denominated senior unsecured bond (the "Bond") in an aggregate principal amount of £300 million with a tenor of 10 years following a series of UK fixed income investor meetings which generated strong institutional demand. The Bond will bear interest at a rate of 3 per cent per annum. The Bond will be issued by Assura Financing plc and guaranteed by Assura and a number of the Assura group's subsidiaries.

Fitch Ratings Limited recently assigned Assura an investment grade rating of A- (stable outlook) and is expected to assign the Bond an investment grade rating of A-.

Following the issuance of the Bond, Assura's weighted average debt maturity will increase from 6.0 years to 8.3 years and the pro forma weighted average cost of debt will be 3.27%.

The Bond issuance is part of Assura's overall financing initiatives to further diversify its sources of funding and extend its debt maturity profile. The proceeds of the Bond issuance will be used for general corporate and working capital purposes.

Barclays Bank plc and HSBC Bank plc acted as joint active bookrunners. Banco Santander, S.A. acted as passive bookrunners. Assura was advised on the bond and credit rating by Rothschild & Co.

Jayne Cottam, Chief Financial Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to have achieved an A- rating from Fitch, which shows the strength of our business model. This, and the level of bond investor support we received, has enabled us to price, successfully, our debut unsecured public bond. The bond extends our maturity profile and provides access to a new capital market which provides further funding to allow us to execute on our £225 million pipeline."

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For more information, please contact:

Assura plc	Tel: [phone]
Jayne Cottam Orla Ball
Edelman	Tel: [phone]
John Kiely Brett Jacobs Rob Yates

Notes to Editors

Assura plc, a constituent of the FTSE 250 and the EPRA* indices, is a UK REIT and long-term investor in and developer of primary care property. The company, headquartered in Warrington, works with GPs, health professionals and the NHS to create innovative property solutions in order to facilitate delivery of high quality patient care in the community. At 31 March 2018, Assura's property portfolio was valued at £1,733 million.

Further information is available at www.assuraplc.com 

*EPRA is a registered trademark of the European Public Real Estate Association 

Assura plc LEI code: 21380026T19N2Y52XF72

 

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