TOLEDO, Ohio — Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) has announced $1.3 billion in new investment transactions. The moves include more than $1 billion in off-market transactions, as well as a $300 million investment received from the Qatar Investment Authority.
Based in Toledo, Welltower is the largest seniors housing REIT in the country. As of June 1, 2018, the company owned 645 seniors housing communities totaling 65,141 units in the United States.
The new acquisitions included $725 million in seniors housing properties at a blended capitalization rate of 6.6 percent and $280 million in medical office properties at a blended cap rate of 5.9 percent. Three of the seniors housing acquisitions will be with an existing operational partner.
On the medical office side of the transaction, Welltower acquired 75 percent ownership in two flagship outpatient facilities under development in Charlotte, N.C. Pappas Properties is developing the properties, which Atrium Health will operate upon completion. This project is part of a 5.5-acre, multi-phase, healthcare-anchored mixed-use development located next to Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center campus.
Welltower notes that it plans future joint ventures with Pappas in the Carolinas.
Qatar Investment
In a separate transaction, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, has established an interest in Welltower’s common stock through a $300 million investment. QIA has an option to acquire an interest in a development pipeline of urban senior living communities, representing the initial investments in a long-term partnership.
“We are proud to announce QIA’s investment in Welltower as it further validates our unique investment thesis of owning, managing and developing modern and efficient healthcare real estate,” says Tom DeRosa, CEO of Welltower. “QIA, one the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, shares our vision regarding the importance of this asset class in improving outcomes and lowering the costs of healthcare delivery and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”
“QIA fully shares Welltower’s view as to the enormous opportunity presented by investing in next-generation healthcare infrastructure, especially in view of the aging global population,” adds Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA.
QInvest acted as financial advisor to QIA on the transaction.