Assura plc has announced the completion of the disposal of 12 assets for cash proceeds of £25m.

The sale price is in line with the current book value of the assets and the proceeds will enable a partial repayment of the group’s revolving credit facility.

The new comes as the company continues to make strong progress on the disposals programme announced in August 2024 following the £500m private hospital portfolio acquisition.

And the company is in discussions on further tranches of asset disposals with an aggregate value of approximately £110m, being a mixture of both portfolio disposals and assets for transfer into its previously-announced joint venture partnership.

In addition, a further pipeline of 27 assets with an aggregate value of approximately £90m that meet the company’s disposal criteria has been identified and preliminary work on the possible disposal of these assets has commenced.

As such, the company remains on track with its target to reduce net debt to EBITDA below nine times and LTV below 45% over the next 18-24 months.

A further update on the disposals programme will be provided in its half-year results presentation on 14 November.

Jonathan Murphy, chief executive, said: “I am pleased that we have completed the portfolio sale of 12 assets for £25m in line with book value and illustrating the attraction of our underlying asset class.

“Our £500m private hospital portfolio acquisition in August 2024 was an important strategic step for Assura becoming a diversified healthcare REIT capitalising on the significant opportunity in the structurally-supported private hospital market.

“The progress on our disposal programme is an important next step in delivering our commitment to reduce leverage following the acquisition.