Assura has agreed terms for a £1.6 billion takeover by US private equity group KKR after weeks of failed attempts by Primary Health Properties to acquire the healthcare property group.

Assura and KKR have agreed terms for a cash acquisition of Assura, which values Assura at 49.4 pence per share. Primary Health Properties latest offer valued Assura at just 46.2p.

KKR’s offer comprises 48.56 pence cash and a 0.84 pence dividend due in April.

The offer matches Assura’s EPRA NTA value of 49.4 pence per share and represents a premium of nearly 32% on Assura’s closing price before the offer period.

Primary Health Properties’ unwillingness to pay Assura’s EPRA NTA means yet another UK-listed company falls into the hands of a US private equity group.

The FTSE 100 sank again on Wednesday after Trump’s tariffs came into force overnight and the threat of a fresh wave of tariffs on pharmaceuticals weighed on London’s heavyweight pharma sector.

Yesterday’s rally in global equities proved to be shortly lived. Any hope around potential deals with around 70 countries that had approached the White House to negotiate was replaced by outright risk aversion on the introduction of 104% tariffs on China. 

China is not a country to be pushed around or dictated to, and Donald Trump’s demand for a phone call from the world’s second-largest country to negotiate tariffs was not met.

Indeed, China hit back with an additional 50% tariffs on US imports on Wednesday.

London’s China-exposed miners fell, adding to the downside pressure created by GSK and AstraZeneca.

Financial stress

There are growing signs of distress in financial markets. US government treasuries are selling off, the Yen is soaring against the dollar, and US swap rates are tumbling.

Donald Trump’s tariffs now have broader implications than just the erosion of company earnings. If these stresses are left unchecked, the bear market for US global equity indices could be the start of a broader sell-off. 

Many leading hedge fund managers are warning against buying the dip, while Goldman Sachs analysts suggest now is a good time to start venturing back into equities.

Equity bulls will hope there is an element of ‘sell the rumour, buy the fact’ to Trump’s tariffs and that investors fearing the consequences of the trade war have already dumped most of the stock they plan to. This could clear the decks for investors to dip their toes back into beaten-down names. 

“UK equities were historically cheap even before the sharp further drop of the last few days. The steep decline has only made them look even more attractive,” said Ben Ritchie, co-manager of Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust.

“There are plenty of stocks on close to double digit dividend yields that we think are incredibly well underpinned, alongside a large number of companies trading on multiples that are lower than at the nadir of Covid-19 when we were unsure if the world could function.” 

However, significant unknowns remain, and Trump’s erratic approach to foreign and economic policy shows no sign of abating.

Interestingly, there are signs of tensions in Trump’s top team, with Elon Musk, in a social media post, saying Trump advisor Peter Navarro was ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’.

Tesla’s shares are among the worst-affected US technology companies, having lost 41% this year, taking an axe to Musk’s net worth.

In addition to another 4.9% drop in Tesla shares, other US technology shares suffered further losses overnight as Trump appeared unwavering in his pursuit of a global trade war. 

FTSE 100 tumbles

The S&P 500 closed down 1.4% overnight after trading as much as 4% higher. The sharp turnaround in US stocks led to a softer European open, which saw the FTSE 100 fall over 2% in early trade.

Nervousness about the standoff between Trump and China played out in the FTSE 100’s natural resources stocks. Anglo American sank over 5%, and BP lost another 3%. China is the world’s largest consumer of natural resources, and a slowdown in its economy will have deep implications for the sector.

However, Gold was back in vogue after a retreat from recent highs. Precious metals miner Endeavour Mining caught the attention of investors, sending shares 2% higher. Endeavour was one of the very few gainers in the early stages of Wednesday’s session. 

“As the world waits to find out which side might blink first, there’s renewed sentiment for gold as place of safety amid market turmoil, with the precious metal climbing back up after recent losses,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

AstraZeneca was the FTSE 100’s top faller, sinking 6%, after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. AstraZeneca is the FTSE 100’s largest company by market cap and wiped a significant number of points off the index.

The FTSE 100 jumped on Tuesday, with European equities on track to record their first positive session since Trump unleashed his tariff charts on the world last week.

However, Tuesday’s gains did little to make a dent in the losses sustained since Trump’s announcement, and the FTSE 100 is still around 9% lower than where it was pre-tariff announcement.

The gains follow signs in a softening in the White House’s stance on tariffs and, importantly, the willingness to negotiate. Early signs of the potential for deals yesterday caused wild swings in US stocks that created and then wiped out trillions of dollars of value within seconds.

Two reports in close proximity saw the S&P 500 rally around 250 points – around 5% of the total index and $2 trillion in market value – in a matter of minutes, only for it all to disappear again just as quickly.

Reports that Trump was considering a delay to tariffs and suggestions the EU was happy to look at zero-tariff options sparked a rally of around 300 points that lasted no more than 10 minutes before the index gave back most of the gains. 

The White House labelled reports that Donald Trump was considering 90 tariff delays as ‘fake news’, squashing hopes that a deal could be struck between major economies and the US, erasing all of the short-term gains. Rarely in history has such a large amount of equity value been created and destroyed so quickly.

However,  a trickle of media commentary and White House statements suggesting that the US administration was in dialogue with around 70 countries helped support US stocks throughout the session, and the S&P 500 very nearly closed in positive territory overnight.

There were also a number of positive signals coming from the US on the corporate front, including Broadcom announcing a $10bn share buyback. The company’s AI revenues have surged recently, and its announcement served as a gentle reminder of the underlying strength in some of the world’s largest companies.

The step back from the abyss was taken positively by European stocks, which opened higher and continued to rally as the session progressed.

“After multiple punishing sessions, stock markets appear to have started their road to recovery,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. 

“Asia led the way, including a 6% advance from the Nikkei after Japan effectively jumped to the front of the queue for tariff negotiations with Donald Trump. Reports that Japan would get priority status for talks fired up markets in hope of a resolution.

“Trump has the same end-goal for the countries on which he has imposed new tariffs. He wants to make it easier for US companies to do business overseas, for the partnering countries to buy more US goods, and for the US to get its hands on strategically important assets such as natural resources.”

Those stocks most heavily hit by Trump’s tariffs were among the FTSE 100’s top risers on Tuesday. Rolls Royce added 5% while Babcock International gained 4.5%.

Miners helped the index higher with Glencore rising 3%.

There were also more gains for Marks & Spencer and Unite Group – two of only five FTSE 100 shares that are higher than were they were just before Trump’s announcement.