Welltower sales to reach $4.1B in its 2016 portfolio repositioning

Welltower, Toledo, Ohio, has announced a billion-dollar repositioning this week, hoping to round off its 2016 investment remix at $4.1 billion in dispositions. The healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) has been selling off interests in Medicare-based skilled-nursing services and increasing its ratioj of private-pay and non-skilled-nursing settings all year.

“This repositioning will strengthen our focus on premium private-pay health care real estate, reinforce our industry-leading balance sheet strength, and enhance our operating and financial performance,” said Tom DeRosa, CEO of Welltower, in a corporate statement.

A major part of the Q4 activity is the transfer of a 75 percent ownership in a post-acute care portfolio—totalling $930 million—to two Chinese firms. Cindat Capital Management Ltd and Union Life Insurance Co. Ltd will become the majority owners, and Welltower will hold the remaining 25 percent, according to BusinessWire.

Properties involved in the REIT’s remix include 28 properties leased to Genesis Healthcare and 11 properties leased to Brookdale Senior Living. The lease agreements and operations will remain unaffected.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.