Medical Properties Trust (MPT), a US REIT, has acquired from Hospital Topco Limited the real estate of 30 acute care private hospitals in the UK.

For an aggregate purchase price of £1.5 billion, the facilities will be leased under long-term inflation protected net leases to affiliates of BMI Healthcare. BMI Healthcare manages a network of hospitals and clinics throughout the UK and was last month acquired by Circle Health.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

MPT already owns one hospital that is leased and managed by BMI Healthcare and two hospitals leased and managed by Circle Health. 

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, MPT is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 that acquires and develops net-leased hospital facilities.

Edward Aldag, president, chairman and chief executive of MPT, said: “These hospitals represent a unique collection of facilities that are critical to the delivery of acute health services across the UK. We are confident in the growing opportunities for private hospital operators in UK healthcare. We look forward to advancing our relationship with our UK operators in contributing to improved facility efficiency, quality of care and health outcomes for all hospital patients throughout the UK.”