What would the doctor say about the bids for Assura?
There are myriad ways to take the temperature of the UK stock market. But what better than this: a bid battle for a business whose buildings house GP surgeries?
It's the dust-up for Assura, the healthcare-focused real estate investment trust (Reit). On offer? Two different sorts of medicine: a £1.61 billion cash bid from private equity firms KKR and Stonepeak, which would see Assura vanish from the London Stock Exchange; and a cash-and-shares offer from its rival, Primary Health Properties, worth about £1.7 billion, that would create a bigger UK-quoted Reit.
The headline prices are only one clue as to which is the better bid. The take-private duo are offering a cash exit at 49.4p a share, including Assura's 0.84p quarterly dividend paid in April.
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