Senior Housing Properties Trust Changes Name to Diversified Healthcare Trust Amid Massive Portfolio Restructuring

by Jeff Shaw

NEWTON, Mass. — Publicly traded REIT Senior Housing Properties Trust has changed its name to Diversified Healthcare Trust and has begun trading under its new stock symbol, DHC on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

“We believe [the new name] more accurately depicts both our portfolio of diverse, high-quality healthcare real estate and our strategy moving forward,” says Jennifer Francis, president and chief operating officer. “Over the past 10 years, we have made considerable progress in diversifying and enhancing what was once a pure-play senior living portfolio by strategically acquiring state-of-the-art life science properties and well-located medical office buildings in order to meet the broader real estate needs of the continually evolving healthcare industry.”

The move coincides with a slew of sales and acquisitions, as well as restructuring of lease agreements with the company’s primary tenant, Five Star Senior Living (NASDAQ: FVE).

The previous relationship between the two companies involved five master leases overseeing 166 seniors housing communities, plus 77 individual triple-net leases, for the 28,844 units owned by DHC and operated by FVE. Under the new agreement, all 243 communities will have individual management agreements.

Concurrent with the other announcements, DHC also announced a series of transactions as part of its divestiture and diversification plan. The company plans to sell up to $900 million of properties as part of its restructuring.

The newly announced dispositions included a portfolio of seven senior living communities with a combined 566 units in California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida and Rhode Island for $103.3 million; a 150-unit senior living community in Redmond, Wash., for $32.5 million; and a 95,000-square-foot medical office building in Atlanta for $14 million.

The company also made a large acquisition, buying a 169-unit, Class A active adult rental property in the Dallas suburb of Plano for $50.3 million. The community was built in 2016. Within a 10-mile radius of the property, DHC owns two senior living facilities: the 245-unit Forum at Park Lane and the 143-unit Premier Residences of Dallas.

Separately, DHC obtained a new short-term, $250 million senior unsecured term loan. The maturity date of the term loan is June 12, 2020, which may be extended by six months subject to the certain conditions, including an extension fee.

DHC used the proceeds from this term loan, together with proceeds from its property dispositions, borrowings under its revolving credit facility and cash on hand, to prepay its $350 million senior unsecured term loan that was scheduled to mature on Jan. 15, 2020. The interest rate on the new term loan is LIBOR plus 125 basis points, subject to adjustment based on changes to DHC’s credit ratings. The lender was not disclosed.

Both FVE and DHC are both managed by Newton-based alternative asset management company The RMR Group (NASDAQ: RMR).

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