New Financing for Hokkaido Hospitals
Caress Group, which manages seven Hokkaido hospitals, is joining forces with several firms to create a fund that will buy the hospitals' real estate assets for 100 billion yen. For hospitals that have traiditonally relied on borrowing from financial institutions, the fund represents an innovative way for procuring funds that facilitates the financing of facilities and the introduction of new equipment. The fund will be established this autumn. Funds will be solicited from big trading and real estate companies, energy companies, and other firms. The fund's composition and management will be the responsibility of a German brokerage, which aims to have it trading as a REIT in 2007. Hospital managements are under pressure because of declining payments for medical services and other factors.