Pricing of £300m Social Bond

RNS Number : 3846Y

Assura PLC

08 September 2020

 

8 September 2020

Assura plc

Successful pricing of £300 million senior unsecured Social Bond

Assura plc ("Assura") is pleased to announce the pricing of its first Social Bond, a Sterling-denominated senior unsecured bond (the "Social Bond" or the "Bond") in an amount of £300 million with a tenor of 10 years. This follows a series of UK fixed income investor meetings which generated strong institutional demand.

The Bond will bear interest at a rate of 1.5 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.

Following the issuance of the Bond, Assura's weighted average debt maturity will increase from 6.8 years to 7.8 years and the pro forma weighted average cost of debt will reduce to 2.69%.

This Social Bond is the first issued under the Assura Social Finance Framework and the proceeds will be used to fund or refinance eligible social projects, specifically the acquisition, development or refurbishment of publicly accessible primary care and community healthcare centres.

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

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

Jayne Cottam, Chief Financial Officer, commented:

"Our ambition is to become the UK's number one listed property business for social impact. The issuance of our first Social Bond demonstrates our commitment to contributing to the communities in which we operate and will be used to support our continued investment in providing more fit-for-purpose primary and community healthcare centres.

"We launched our SixbySix social impact strategy earlier this year, to put our purpose - creating outstanding spaces for health services in our communities - at the centre of everything we do. The strong level of bond investor support leaves us well positioned to deliver against our acquisition and development pipeline, as well as SixbySix."

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For more information, please contact:

Assura plc Jayne Cottam, CFO David Purcell, Head of Financial Reporting	Tel: [phone] E mail: [e-mail]
Finsbury Gordon Simpson James Thompson	Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

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 outstanding spaces for health services in our communities. At 31 March 2020, Assura's property portfolio was valued at £2,139 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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