LondonMetric to sell Salford hospital in £59m deal

Oaklands Hospital off Lancaster Road has a WAULT of 11 years and is due to be scooped up by an unnamed buyer, alongside a similar building in Truro.

Completion of the £59.1m deal is imminent, according to LondonMetric.

Both Salford and Truro hospitals are operated by Ramsay Health Care.

The sale of the two hospitals marks a reduction in LondonMetric’s healthcare portfolio, which drops from boasting 11 Ramsay-operated hospitals to nine. It also reduces the investor’s rental exposure to Ramsay from 9.1% to 8.4%.

Hospitals make up just one part of LondonMetric’s healthcare portfolio, which was valued at £900m and brought in £51m in contracted rent prior to the Salford and Truro deals.

The Oaklands Hospital specialises in orthopaedics, general surgery, ophthalmology, cosmetic surgery, weight loss surgery, and ENT. It comprises three operating theatres, a minor operations theatre, physiotherapy unit, imaging department, and daycase unit.

The looming Salford sale is part of LondonMetric’s disposal of 32 assets for £175m. Other recently discard properties include two logistics warehouses in Ripon and Normanton that sold for £13m, a Lidl in Basildon that sold for £8.8m, and two Travelodge hotels in Chippenham that sold for £4.1m.

LondonMetric has also been in the acquisition mode, with £62m-worth of assets acquired and another £140m under offer. These are long-let assets with occupiers that include Lidl, M&S, Tesco, and Waitrose.

“Despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, we have made excellent progress in selling further non-core assets over the past two months,” said LondonMetric chief executive Andrew Jones.

“Our activity has helped reduce our Ramsay exposure and further improve our NNN income quality, longevity and granularity.”

“Whilst the investment market is generally quieter over the summer, we have been heavily engaged on reinvestment opportunities that have higher growth prospects, particularly those emanating from pension funds. We expect to transact on a number of these shortly.”