Bahrain’s financial group acquires US medical offices for $200m

GFH Financial Group has acquired a portfolio of medical offices in the US worth around $200m as part of its strategy to build a portfolio of stabilised assets.

The medical offices portfolio comprises of 11 assets and 400,000 square feet of space spread across seven states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Texas.

The Sharia-compliant deal brings the value of the GFH’s group’s US healthcare portfolio to over $400m. Medical Offices refers to facilities leased to outpatient medical and medical related services. These include different specialisations of medicine (including dermatology, paediatrics and other various specialisations) as well as labs and ancillary medical services.

The portfolio comprises assets that are leased to US healthcare, including Cleveland Clinic, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Novant Health, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Texas Health Resources and Baylor Scott & White Health. The assets cover a range of specialist care sectors and are positioned on hospital campuses or near hospitals with customer base across the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest.

The portfolio with a WAULT of near 10 years comprises of both long term and short term leases, allowing it to benefit from long term stability as well potential upside.

“The pandemic has underlined a need for more outpatient services and continued demand for healthcare services. As a result we are seeing strong investor sentiment in the medical offices sector. This trend is particularly true in the US, where healthcare spending comprises around 18 per cent of GDP, compared to around 10 per cent for most other developed countries,” said Nael Mustafa, co-chief investment officer – Real Estate at GFH.

Meanwhile, investment in medical offices has quadrupled over the last decade and medical office closings accounted for nearly 30 per cent of all US office sales for the year ending in March 2021.

Nael added: “GFH’s focus on defensive sectors and recession proof investments, such as healthcare, is known for delivering both value and returns for shareholders. We are confident that our US medical offices portfolio will help our partners to capitalise on the surging demand for healthcare in the US in the coming decades.”

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