TOLEDO,
Ohio, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltower
Inc. (NYSE: WELL) ("Welltower" or the "Company") today announced
that it plans to form a long-term strategic partnership with
Affinity Living Communities ("Affinity"), a vertically integrated
developer and operator of age-restricted and age-targeted Wellness
Housing. Welltower is under contract to acquire a portfolio of 25
purpose-built active adult communities for $969 million through a privately negotiated,
off-market transaction and also expects to enter into a long-term
programmatic development agreement with Affinity.
The portfolio encompasses nearly 3,900 units predominately
concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. The acquisition will enable
Welltower to strategically scale the geographic reach of its
Wellness Housing portfolio into markets with a projected 5-year 55+
population growth more than 2.5 times higher than the U.S. average.
Post-closing, the portfolio will continue to be managed by Affinity
subject to a terminable and aligned management contract.
The acquisition is expected to be funded through cash on hand
and the assumption of $523 million of
below-market rate debt with an average interest rate of 3.8% and a
nine-year weighted average maturity. The implied purchase price of
approximately $249,000 per unit,
which doesn't allocate any value to the below-market debt,
represents a significant discount to replacement cost for a highly
amenitized portfolio with an average age of less than eight years.
The transaction is expected to close in tranches over the next
several months with timing dependent on property-level loan
assumption approvals.
Darin Davidson, Affinity's
President, commented, "This transaction and partnership with
Welltower mark a milestone in our company's history. I am
incredibly proud of what we have built and the lives we have
touched through our Affinity communities. In Welltower, we found a
partner with shared values and forward thinking. The Welltower
partnership will enable us to enhance and extend our ability to
execute our mission of creating thriving communities in which our
engaged residents live full and happy lives."
This transaction will result in the expansion of Welltower's
in-place and under development Wellness Housing portfolio of
age-targeted and age-restricted communities to nearly 25,000 units.
Shankh Mitra, Welltower's CEO, commented, "Our Wellness Housing
portfolio helps address the significant and growing unmet demand
for wellness focused rental housing for seniors. These communities
provide thoughtful amenities and targeted social programming for
empty nesters and active adults at moderate price points. I am
thrilled to work with Darin and his team at Affinity. In the time
we have gotten to know Darin over the last few years, he has shown
to be a man of great integrity and thoughtfulness, with a true
compass on the future direction of how older Americans want to
live."
Affinity communities typically feature over 30,000 square feet
of amenity space, significantly more than the industry average, and
have a shared sense of community created through extensive
resident-led programming. The purpose-built communities have an
average monthly rent of $2,100 and an
average length of stay of nearly four years, resulting in near-60%
operating margins and a lower capital expenditure burden.
About Welltower
Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), a real estate investment trust
("REIT") and S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo,
Ohio, is driving the
transformation of health care infrastructure. Welltower
invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute
providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure
needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve
people's wellness and overall health care
experience. Welltower owns interests in properties
concentrated in major, high-growth markets in the United
States, Canada and the United Kingdom, consisting of
seniors housing and post-acute communities and outpatient medical
properties.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
When Welltower uses words such as "will," "expect" or similar
expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters,
Welltower is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve
risks and uncertainties that may cause Welltower's actual results
to differ materially from Welltower's expectations discussed in the
forward-looking statements. This may be a result of various
factors, including, but not limited to: Welltower's ability to
consummate the long-term strategic partnership with Affinity on
currently anticipated terms, or within currently anticipated
timeframes, and the expected performance of the strategic
partnership. Welltower undertakes no obligation to update or revise
publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new
information, future events or otherwise, or to update the reasons
why actual results could differ from those projected in any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE Welltower Inc.