It is clear that the privately-financed NNUH has resulted in a large public loss of at least £19 mn. The other side of the coin is that there have been large gains to the private sector. This is true of PFI projects in the health sector generally (as shown in chapter 10) but it is particularly true of Octagon Healthcare and the NNUH.
In 1997, the value of Octagon's equity shareholdings as at the end 1997 was £1.325 mn. Six years later in 2003, there was a refinancing of Octagon which was described by the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee as "the unacceptable face of capitalism". However it was certainly acceptable to the shareholders of Octagon since they were paid dividends of £11 mn from the total surplus of £95 mn accruing to Octagon. Thus within six years of investing £1.325 mn., the shareholders had been paid £11 mn so that they had recouped their investment more than seven times over - and there were were still more than 30 years to go before the first break in the contract.
One of the shareholders in Octagon with a quarter of the shares at the end of 2007 is Innisfree Nominees. The latter is part of the Innisfree Group as is Innisfree Limited.
The accounts of Innisfree Limited are analysed in chapter 10. Between 1998 and 2008, the average annual rate of profit to the shareholders of Innisfree Limited was more than 200%, the profits in this case including directors' remuneration. At the end of March 2008, one of the directors of Innisfree Limited was David Metter who was also Chief Executive of Innisfree Group. David Metter has been described as the driving force behind the private sector's PPP (Private Public Partnership) forum.