Pricing of £300m Sustainability Bond

RNS Number : 8956C

Assura PLC

23 June 2021

 

23 June 2021

Assura plc

Successful pricing of £300 million senior unsecured Sustainability Bond

Assura plc ("Assura") is pleased to announce the pricing of its first Sustainability Bond, a Sterling-denominated senior unsecured bond (the "Sustainability Bond" or the "Bond") in an amount of £300 million with a tenor of 12 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 1.625 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 8.0 years to 8.7 years and the pro forma weighted average cost of debt will reduce to 2.3%.

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

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-.

HSBC Bank plc and J.P. Morgan Securities plc acted as joint active bookrunners. Barclays Bank PLC, NatWest Markets plc, Banco Santander, S.A. and Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited acted as passive bookrunners. Assura was advised on the bond and credit rating by Rothschild & Co.

Jayne Cottam, Chief Financial Officer, commented:

"This is our first Sustainability Bond, following on from the Social Bond we issued in 2020, and has been met with a strong level of support from bond investors.  

"We want to make a real difference through the spaces we create and manage. Our social impact strategy, SixBySix, aims to maximise our contribution to society and minimise our impact on the environment. The issuance of our first Sustainability Bond fits naturally with SixBySix with the proceeds being used to fund eligible green and social projects."

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For more information, please contact:

Assura plc Jayne Cottam, CFO David Purcell, Head of Investor Relations	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 2021, Assura's property portfolio was valued at £2,453 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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