Primary Health Properties (PHP), a real estate investment trust that invests in modern primary healthcare facilities, has appointed Mark Davies as chief executive, effective 24 April 2024, succeeding PHP’s founder Harry Hyman who announced in December he was stepping down.

Davies is an experienced FTSE 250 executive having held chief executive and chief financial officer roles in listed companies and private equity and is currently the senior independent director at Palace Capital, a London-listed REIT. He was a co-founder director of NewRiver REIT in 2009 and played an important role in taking the company from IPO to the FTSE 250 in seven years. He was chief financial officer of NewRiver for more than12 years and also chief executive and executive chairman of Hawthorn Leisure for five years. He stood down from the board of NewRiver following the sale of Hawthorn in July 2021 to private equity.

Davies has capital markets experience and over the past 14 years has raised over £3 billion of equity and debt in public and private markets. Prior to co-founding NewRiver, Davies spent three years as an executive director and chief financial officer at Omega Land, a private equity fund, with more than £2 billion of London real estate owned by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.

As part of the handover process Davies will work alongside Hyman for three months up to the 2024 AGM.

Steven Owen, PHP’s chairman, said: “On behalf of the board, I am delighted that Mark will succeed Harry as CEO. Mark’s track record, experience and knowledge of property and capital markets, as well as of operational businesses, will be of considerable benefit to the company in the execution of its strategy over the medium term.”

Hyman added: “I welcome the appointment of Mark Davies. His proven leadership skills will undoubtedly help steer PHP to even greater success. I look forward to working with Mark and the rest of the team to ensure a seamless transition in 2024 and beyond, and to continuing to deliver our strategy of progressive dividend growth.”

Davies commented: “PHP has a strong track record and is a market leader in healthcare property. I’m delighted at the opportunity to lead the business and it’s an honour to succeed Harry as CEO. There is a significant long-term strategic opportunity to own, develop and modernise healthcare assets and PHP has a high-quality portfolio which is well positioned to continue creating sustainable value from community health assets with a social purpose. I look forward to working with the expert team at PHP, the board and all of our stakeholders.”