The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that an activist fund manager has launched a campaign to acquire 14 hospitals in Britain from Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT. The Globe's Andrew Willis writes that on Monday, hedge fund TMR Capital published a letter urging the board of Northwest to sell its British unit as part of a move to pay down $3.9-billion in debt, a third of which is at floating interest rates. Northwest owns $10-billion of assets, with 231 medical buildings and hospitals in eight countries. TMR made its overture after Northwest cut its distributions to investors by more than 50 per cent on Friday, and announced it was in talks to sell properties in Brazil and the United States. Year-to-date, the REIT's units are down by more than 40 per cent. TMR, which is based in the British Virgin Islands and led by Canadians, went public with its campaign after being privately rebuffed by Northwest in recent months. The hedge fund holds an interest in the REIT and declined to disclose its size. On Monday, Northwest vice-president Andrew Grieg said the REIT has received several unsolicited offers from potential buyers of parts of its business since starting a strategic review in August.