Aspen Group Ltd. (TASE:ASGR) wholly-owned subsidiary Aspen Real Estate Ltd. (TASE:ASRE.B2; ASRE.B3) and a foreign partner have together bought 80% of a company that owns medical clinics in the Black Forest village of Bad Rippoldsau in Germany for €6.65 million in a buy-and-lease-back deal. Bad Rippoldsau is a half-hour drive south from Frankfurt. The deal was made through Aspen BV.
In an earlier version of the deal, Aspen Real Estate and the Development Company founded by the Contractors & Builders (TASE:CTRC) tried to buy the German clinics in equal shares for €25 million.
The seller will continue to own 17% of the clinics, and will continue to lease them for 8.5 years at a rent reflecting an annual return on investment of 10%. The clinics have 25,000 square meters of space altogether.
Aspen Group CEO Ilan Gifman told "Globes", "I bought part of a town for €6.6 million."
The deal gives the clinics a company value of €8.3 million. In contrast to the previous deal, this time Aspen also acquired the rights to the clinics' facilities and equipment.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 22, 2009
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