Jarvis targets primary healthcare sector in joint venture with leading medical centre developer

JPH is being established by Jarvis, in partnership with The Sinclair Montrose Trust Ltd (Sinclair Montrose), a venture capital company with substantial interests in the healthcare, IT and multimedia markets. Under the agreement, Sinclair Montrose will transfer to JPH the primary healthcare activities of its subsidiary, The Healthcare Property Company Ltd ("HPC"), together with its medical centre property portfolio and management team.

Sinclair Montrose, through HPC, is the leader in the provision of modern primary medical centres, having developed, mainly on behalf of GP practices, some 80 such facilities throughout the UK. A total of 12 properties is to be transferred to JPH, including three which are currently under construction, in Darlington (Co. Durham), Lydney (Gloucs) and Hinckley (Leics).

The current NHS plan calls for primary care to take greater levels of initial responsibility to relieve the pressures on hospitals, allowing them to concentrate on providing more specialist care. It envisages GPs working in multifunctional teams, which would include nurses, dentists, pharmacists, therapists, opticians, midwives and social care staff.

JPH will focus on expanding the existing HPC business and will seek to secure a leading position in the government’s"NHS LIFT" programme. A key objective in the NHS Plan is to refurbish or replace at least 3,000 GP’s premises and create 500 one-stop primary care centres by 2004. It will draw upon both Jarvis’ success in public private partnerships and HPC’s experience in developing primary care facilities.

This investment further strengthens Jarvis’ position in public private partnering in the health sector.

JPH intends to offer a range of added value business support and specialist clinical services to the Primary Care sector. The partners are confident that the rapid evolution of the healthcare market, in line with the Government’s commitment both to the investment of over £1 billion in primary healthcare and to private sector involvement through outsourcing, presents significant opportunities for JPH’s specialist skills.

The Board of JPH will be chaired by Dr Michael Sinclair, who qualified in medicine in 1967, and who is the founder-chairman of SMT. Henry Lafferty, formerly a director of Jarvis, is Chief Executive.

Commenting on the new venture, Dr Sinclair said: "Combining Jarvis’ strengths in facilities management and public private partnerships with the experience of the HPC team in delivering primary healthcare facilities provides a winning formula. The government has recognised that significant investment is required in primary healthcare delivery and that the private sector has a valuable role to play".

Paris Moayedi, Chief Executive of Jarvis, said: "This investment fits ideally into the Jarvis strategy of building leading positions in specialist sectors with high entry barriers and sustainable long term demand. We have already established such positions in the education and student accommodation markets; we are increasingly developing a very strong position in the health market. JPH provides us with access to a key growth area in the UK health sector and with a platform to develop both further specialist areas of expertise and significant, long term revenues".

For further information, please contact:

Jarvis:

Paris Moayedi, Chief Executive:
Tel: 01920 832800

Mike Tate, Director of Communications:
Tel: 020 7462 6670

JPH:

Henry Lafferty, Chief Executive:
Tel: 07860 788551

Notes to Editors:

Jarvis

Jarvis plc is an international facilities management group, operating throughout Europe and exporting to over 60 countries world-wide. A leader in innovative outsourcing solutions, both in the private sector and through public private partnerships (PPP), it operates through three principal units: Infrastructure Services, Accommodation Services and Systems and Technologies.

Accommodation Services, which will incorporate the JPH investment, focuses on integrated projects, including public private partnerships, which incorporate a range of services, notably funding, design and construction management services and facilities management. These include major projects in the education sector, such as the successful University Partnerships Programme and the first schools built and run under the UK Government’s Private Finance Initiative. In the health sector, Jarvis earlier this year completed and now manages a psychiatric unit at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, and has a facilities management contract at Bishop Auckland General Hospital. It is also preferred bidder for the design, construction, financing and management of a new community hospital in Newbury, Berks, and for new acute health facilities at the Whittington Hospital, London.

Sinclair Montrose Trust

SMT is a privately owned venture capital and corporate financial consulting business managed by its executive directors – Dr. Michael Sinclair (Chairman) and Paul Stacey . It has interests in a number of companies in the U.K., U.S.A., and Far East. These investee companies are principally in the healthcare services, information technology and multimedia sectors and collectively had sales in excess of £1 billion in the year to 31st December, 2000.

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