The public–private partnership, to be called Inventures, aims to become a £40m-a-year turnover firm offering construction and facilities management services to NHS trusts.
Chief executive Kate Priestley said the PPP was ideally suited to small-scale NHS building work in Procure 21 which deals with work valued at £1-20m, below the PFI threshold.
"There is a need for new solutions and new ways of doing smaller work in the NHS not covered by PFI," she said. "We are well placed to look at that end of the market."
Priestley, former chief executive of NHS Estates, said Inventures would target projects such as elective surgery centres, which focus on non-emergency surgery, radiology units, offices and primary care centres.
She said the firm would become a principal supply chain partner for NHS Trusts, offering construction, facilities management and IT services. She said with 270 former NHS Estates staff, Inventures had the expertise required.
Work could be funded by Inventures' private sector partner or by trusts, depending on which was more suitable.
The PPP venture will also be responsible for £400m of surplus NHS land and buildings. It will decide which assets are ripe for redevelopment and which should be sold off.
More than 135 private companies initially expressed an interest in the partnering deal. Prequalification questionnaires returned last week narrowed the number to 14.
The bidders, three-quarters of which are consortiums, are mainly UK-based, but include a number of European names.
The private sector company is expected to take a 51% stake in the firm.
Priestley said Inventures had identified skills it needed for the venture, including project management, facilities management and financing.
She said the identity of the private sector partner would dictate whether the venture looked for outside assistance to fill skills gaps.
She said: "There is a really big need for project management skills from the NHS' point of view."
A preferred partner will be named in the autumn and the deal will be finalised early next year.
This will not be in time to respond to NHS Estates, which is seeking bidders for two pilot regions for the Procure 21 initiative, in the West Midlands and north-west England.
Inventures is due to launch next April and expects to start bidding next year.
