Eyeing Healthcare Growth, Lend Lease Acquires DASCO

By Paul Rosta, Senior Editor

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user cote

In the latest deal intended to capitalize on the long-term growth of the healthcare market, the project management and construction firm Lend Lease has acquired the DASCO Companies, a specialist in the financing, leasing and management of healthcare-related facilities.

Executives of the companies, which will be known as Lend Lease DASCO, are counting on the merger to provide a one-stop shop for clients in the burgeoning medical facilities industry.  “Healthcare reform and demographic shifts in the United States, driven by an aging populating, will increase demand for outpatient medical services, and advances in technology will allow an increasing number of medical procedures to be carried out in offices outside of a hospital setting,” said Robert McNamara, CEO for Lend Lease’s Americas region, in the statement disclosing the acquisition on Wednesday. DASCO’s leadership team will stay in place, including its president & CEO, Malcolm Sina, who is taking the new title of president & managing director.

Combining the resources of Lend Lease and DASCO will also enable the new company to pursue bigger health care projects.  Before the merger, DASCO was developing medical office buildings in the 40,000-square-foot range in New Jersey and Florida and has properties of 100,000 square feet or more in the pipeline in Chiefland, Fla., and Little Rock, Ark. Its largest recent project is the St. Francis Millennium medical office building in Greenville, S.C., a 103,000-square-foot facility completed in June 2009. The company provided design, construction management, finance and leasing services during development and now manages the property for the client, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System.

On the property management side, Lend Lease DASCO’s portfolio encompasses 2 million square feet in 11 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Since its founding in 1987, the company has developed 65 projects valued at about $1 billion and also acquired 30 projects valued at $500 million.