Monday, June 20, 2005
ExcellCare, the joint venture between Equion, a division of John Laing plc, and Bank of Scotland, has today announced Leicester LIFT Company’s financial close on a new £6.7 million phase of the ongoing LIFT project to rejuvenate primary health and social care services in Leicester.
Leicester LIFT Company Ltd was set up in August 2004 to improve the primary care estate and access to health and social services in the area. This latest phase at Westcotes will see a further healthcare facility constructed. This is in addition to the two centres currently being built at St Peters and Narborough Road. Upon completion, Leicester LIFT Company will provide facilities management services through Equion FM.
The facility, Westcotes Health Centre, will commence construction later this year (after site clearance) and will be complete by early 2007. The centre will provide a range of primary health facilities for local communities; including five GPs, dental, community nursing, minor surgery, health promotion and a pharmacy. Construction will be carried out by Laing O’Rourke. Ian Wells, director of ExcellCare, said: “This is the next, exciting step in the development of primary health and social care for Leicester. This and the other centres already in development will, I am sure, become real assets to the local community, and we look forward to welcoming the people of Westcotes to their new LIFT centre.” Ends For further information contact: Madano Partnership John Laing plc Notes to editors: Leicester LIFT Company Ltd is owned 60% by ExcellCare, 20% by Partnerships for Health and 20% by the local Leicester Primary Care Trusts. Laing O’Rourke will lead construction. Lead architects for the facilities are Design Buro The financial advisers to ExcellCare are PricewaterhouseCoopers and the legal advisers are Denton Wilde Sapte. Equion is a specialist provider of facilities in the PFI and PPP markets with a long-term perspective and approach. The company manages and delivers projects from planning and funding through to design, construction and operation. It is actively involved in the management of a wide range of health, police, education, defence and special purpose government facilities Bank of Scotland’s Corporate Infrastructure Finance team is a leading funder of Public Private Partnership projects. It has funded more than 100 PPP projects and has provided equity investment as part of an integrated funding package to more than 40 projects, equating to £10 billion of project value across the UK and Europe. It has participated in the funding of more than 8,000 acute hospital bed spaces across the UK and is a major investor in the improvement of Britain’s hospitals and health centres, with several more projects currently at preferred bidder stage. The financial advisers to the public sector are KPMG and the legal advisers are Bevan Brittan.
Anne Sampson/Matthew Moth 020 7593 4000
Christine Jones 020 7901 3200