News Release: Ventas Completes Acquisition of Wexford’s Life Science and Medical Real Estate

  • University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park (Photo courtesy of Wexford)

    University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park (Photo courtesy of Wexford)

    High-Quality Portfolio is Leased by Leading Universities, Academic Medical Centers and Research Companies

  • Consistent with Ventas’s Strategy to Drive Reliable Income and Growth from Institutional Quality Tenants

  • Establishes Growth Platform with Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, the Leading University-Focused Developer

 

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) (“Ventas” or the “Company”) today announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of substantially all of the life science and medical real estate assets of Wexford Science & Technology, LLC (“Wexford”) from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P. for $1.5 billion in cash.

“We are pleased to complete this accretive transaction, which marks Ventas’s entry into the attractive life science business and provides even more diversified, reliable income and growth for our shareholders”

“We are pleased to complete this accretive transaction, which marks Ventas’s entry into the attractive life science business and provides even more diversified, reliable income and growth for our shareholders,” said Ventas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Debra A. Cafaro. “With attractive real estate leased by top universities, academic medical centers and research companies, and a strategic partnership with leading developer Wexford, the transaction adds high quality properties and establishes a new platform for growth. With Wexford’s portfolio, we are further solidifying Ventas’s position as the leading capital provider at the intersection of healthcare and real estate.”

The acquired portfolio includes 23 operating properties that contain 4.1 million square feet, are 97 percent leased and represent a 2017 cash yield of 6.8 percent. Ventas also acquired two development assets pre-leased to Duke University and Wake Forest University that are expected to produce a stabilized unlevered yield of approximately 7.5 percent. Finally, Ventas acquired nine development sites principally contiguous to existing assets, two of which present near term development opportunities.

Wexford will continue to manage the portfolio. As part of the acquisition, Ventas also entered into a long term management and pipeline agreement with Wexford, whereby Ventas will have exclusive rights to jointly develop future projects with Wexford, which will be independently owned and operated by its experienced, existing management team.

“We are delighted to partner with Ventas and we see great opportunities ahead as we continue to manage our existing high-quality portfolio,” said Jim Berens, President of Wexford. “The combination of Wexford’s development expertise and relationships together with Ventas’s financial strength and long-term commitment should enable us to serve our clients, develop exciting new projects and grow our business significantly.”

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to the Company’s normalized funds from operations (“FFO”) per share. The impact of the transaction is already reflected in the Company’s 2016 normalized FFO per share guidance range of $4.05 to $4.13 issued in its July 29, 2016 press release. Ventas funded the transaction with $736 million in equity raised in July 2016, cash on hand and draws on its revolving credit facility.

About Ventas

Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a leading real estate investment trust. Its diverse portfolio of approximately 1,300 assets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom consists of seniors housing communities, medical office buildings, life science buildings, skilled nursing facilities, specialty hospitals and general acute care hospitals. Through its Lillibridge subsidiary, Ventas provides management, leasing, marketing, facility development and advisory services to highly rated hospitals and health systems throughout the United States. More information about Ventas and Lillibridge can be found at www.ventasreit.com and www.lillibridge.com.

About Wexford

Wexford Science & Technology, LLC is a real estate company exclusively focused on partnering with universities, academic medical centers and research companies. Wexford targets strategic opportunities with top-tier research universities that are directly on or contiguous to dense, urban campuses.

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding the Company’s or its tenants’, operators’, borrowers’ or managers’ expected future financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, funds from operations, dividends and dividend plans, financing opportunities and plans, capital markets transactions, business strategy, budgets, projected costs, operating metrics, capital expenditures, competitive positions, acquisitions, investment opportunities, dispositions, merger or acquisition integration, growth opportunities, expected lease income, continued qualification as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), plans and objectives of management for future operations and statements that include words such as “anticipate,” “if,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “will” and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and actual results may differ from the Company’s expectations. The Company does not undertake a duty to update these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made.

The Company’s actual future results and trends may differ materially from expectations depending on a variety of factors discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors include without limitation: (a) the ability and willingness of the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers, managers and other third parties to satisfy their obligations under their respective contractual arrangements with the Company, including, in some cases, their obligations to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Company from and against various claims, litigation and liabilities; (b) the ability of the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers and managers to maintain the financial strength and liquidity necessary to satisfy their respective obligations and liabilities to third parties, including without limitation obligations under their existing credit facilities and other indebtedness; (c) the Company’s success in implementing its business strategy and the Company’s ability to identify, underwrite, finance, consummate and integrate diversifying acquisitions and investments; (d) macroeconomic conditions such as a disruption of or lack of access to the capital markets, changes in the debt rating on U.S. government securities, default or delay in payment by the United States of its obligations, and changes in the federal or state budgets resulting in the reduction or nonpayment of Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement rates; (e) the nature and extent of future competition, including new construction in the markets in which the Company’s seniors housing communities and medical office buildings (“MOBs”) are located; (f) the extent of future or pending healthcare reform and regulation, including cost containment measures and changes in reimbursement policies, procedures and rates; (g) increases in the Company’s borrowing costs as a result of changes in interest rates and other factors; (h) the ability of the Company’s tenants, operators and managers, as applicable, to comply with laws, rules and regulations in the operation of the Company’s properties, to deliver high-quality services, to attract and retain qualified personnel and to attract residents and patients; (i) changes in general economic conditions or economic conditions in the markets in which the Company may, from time to time, compete, and the effect of those changes on the Company’s revenues, earnings and funding sources; (j) the Company’s ability to pay down, refinance, restructure or extend its indebtedness as it becomes due; (k) the Company’s ability and willingness to maintain its qualification as a REIT in light of economic, market, legal, tax and other considerations; (l) final determination of the Company’s taxable net income for the year ended December 31, 2015 and for the year ending December 31, 2016; (m) the ability and willingness of the Company’s tenants to renew their leases with the Company upon expiration of the leases, the Company’s ability to reposition its properties on the same or better terms in the event of nonrenewal or in the event the Company exercises its right to replace an existing tenant, and obligations, including indemnification obligations, the Company may incur in connection with the replacement of an existing tenant; (n) risks associated with the Company’s senior living operating portfolio, such as factors that can cause volatility in the Company’s operating income and earnings generated by those properties, including without limitation national and regional economic conditions, costs of food, materials, energy, labor and services, employee benefit costs, insurance costs and professional and general liability claims, and the timely delivery of accurate property-level financial results for those properties; (o) changes in exchange rates for any foreign currency in which the Company may, from time to time, conduct business; (p) year-over-year changes in the Consumer Price Index or the UK Retail Price Index and the effect of those changes on the rent escalators contained in the Company’s leases and the Company’s earnings; (q) the Company’s ability and the ability of its tenants, operators, borrowers and managers to obtain and maintain adequate property, liability and other insurance from reputable, financially stable providers; (r) the impact of increased operating costs and uninsured professional liability claims on the Company’s liquidity, financial condition and results of operations or that of the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers and managers, and the ability of the Company and the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers and managers to accurately estimate the magnitude of those claims; (s) risks associated with the Company’s MOB portfolio and operations, including the Company’s ability to successfully design, develop and manage MOBs and to retain key personnel; (t) the ability of the hospitals on or near whose campuses the Company’s MOBs are located and their affiliated health systems to remain competitive and financially viable and to attract physicians and physician groups; (u) risks associated with the Company’s investments in joint ventures and unconsolidated entities, including its lack of sole decision-making authority and its reliance on its joint venture partners’ financial condition; (v) the impact of market or issuer events on the liquidity or value of the Company’s investments in marketable securities; (w) consolidation activity in the seniors housing and healthcare industries resulting in a change of control of, or a competitor’s investment in, one or more of the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers or managers or significant changes in the senior management of the Company’s tenants, operators, borrowers or managers; (x) the impact of litigation or any financial, accounting, legal or regulatory issues that may affect the Company or its tenants, operators, borrowers or managers; and (y) changes in accounting principles, or their application or interpretation, and the Company’s ability to make estimates and the assumptions underlying the estimates, which could have an effect on the Company’s earnings.

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Contacts

Ventas, Inc.
Ryan K. Shannon
(877) 4-VENTAS

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