Assura ‘minded’ to agree £1.61bn private equity takeover approach led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts

The proposal – the fifth from KKR – is higher than the previous approach worth 48p a share made in February, which had valued Assura at £1.56 billion.

Assura said its board would be likely to agree a deal if KKR and Stonepeak made a firm offer and is now in talks with its suitors.

It also revealed it had received a merger proposal from Primary Health Properties (PHP), which would have valued Assura at around 43p a share, but said it had rejected this in favour of the KKR approach.

Assura said the KKR approach “is more attractive than the PHP proposal as it provides shareholders with the opportunity to receive cash consideration at a significantly higher value per share than the proposal from PHP and with materially less risk”.

The latest approach from KKR sees it team up with US investment firm Stonepeak.

KKR had previously partnered with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) to bid for Assura, but the USS said last month that it would not be making a bid for Assura following the last rejection.

Assura said: “The consortium of KKR and Stonepeak, both long-term infrastructure investors, recognises that Assura’s leading platform and portfolio are important social infrastructure assets for the UK and has indicated its intention to deploy further capital to the portfolio to continue its growth.”

It added: “Having carefully considered the possible cash offer with its advisers and consulted with the company’s major shareholders extensively following the announcement of a possible offer on 14 February 2025, the board has indicated to the consortium that, should a firm offer be made on the financial terms set out above, it would be minded to recommend such an offer to Assura shareholders.”

Research commissioned by Assura, which was published last month, found strong support from the British public for new GP surgeries to support the Government’s national housebuilding targets.

More than half (54 per cent) of the 1,550 people surveyed by Deltapoll cited new or upgraded GP practices as a priority.

In contrast to other services, the support for GP practices was consistent across all age groups with it being a leading choice for Gen Z respondents through to Baby Boomers, the survey said.

Almost half of respondents (47 per cent) also stated they would be less likely to object to new housing developments if the provision of the additional amenities was guaranteed.

Last month, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said work would begin on a host of new towns across the country before the next election.

Commenting on the survey findings, Jonathan Murphy CEO at Assura said in February: “It is clear from this poll that health and wellbeing is an important issue to the British public and GP practices have a critical part to play in their local communities.

"The Government aims to deliver 1.5 million new homes; it is vital that the right infrastructure is put in place alongside these new houses to ensure communities have adequate access to services, such as GP practices.”