Grant Thornton advises Assura

Assura plc is the UK’s leading diversified healthcare REIT. The acquisition of this portfolio of 14 hospitals accelerates the delivery of their broader healthcare strategy, securing increased exposure to the structurally supported private healthcare market as they continue to diversify their offering in line with UK healthcare demands.

The Grant Thornton team provided UK tax advice on structuring Assura plc’s corporate acquisition of the portfolio along with UK tax due diligence on the portfolio and the existing holding structure. Following the acquisition, the Grant Thornton team also provided UK tax advice on the simplification of the existing holding structure to reduce ongoing costs and operational complexity within the enlarged group. 

As part of our work, the Grant Thornton team worked closely with other advisors to provide concise, commercially focused and actionable advice, within an extremely accelerated transaction timeline. 

The Grant Thornton team worked seamlessly with the corporate finance and legal advisers along with our client to ensure that commercial terms around the consideration structure were considered to ensure that the tax position of our client was protected. The Grant Thornton team explored three options for the acquisition structure and, understanding the commercial requirement for this transaction to complete as quickly as possible,  we provided a headline analysis of the principal tax implications and risks of the options. This enabled our client to make a timely and informed decision to proceed. 

The Grant Thornton team also were able to identify significant simplifications to the acquired structure that are expected to result in considerable annual cost savings for the Assura group.