Four companies are bidding to buy Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II Inc., in a deal that could value the company at nearly $3.7 billion, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The bidders include some of the heaviest hitters in senior housing: Ventas Inc., Health Care REIT Inc., American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust, and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp., according to the WSJ report, which cites un-named sources familiar with the negotiations.
Griffin is a major owner of senior housing, skilled nursing and medical office buildings among its healthcare investments and has been active in acquiring assets both in the United States and United Kingdom. The latest of the publicly-listed non-traded REIT senior housing transactions involved the acquisition of four continuing care retirement communities for $300 million in January.
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II is among several non-traded healthcare REITS that have made names for themselves in the senior housing market of late, alongside NorthStar Realty Finance and American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust. Ventas executives have said recently they are approaching non-traded REITs in the sector as healthy competition.
The company also made waves when it closed a $472 million acquisition of 44 senior housing properties located throughout the United Kingdom in September 2013. It also recently reported completing $541 million of acquisitions in December for a total of $1.5 billion in 2013, including the CCRC acquisition.
The WSJ is reporting the deal could be finalized in the next two weeks but negotiations could still fall apart. Michael Carroll, a health-care REIT analyst with RBC, told the publication the market remains fragmented and that there are many remaining opportunities.
“Returns are higher than their cost of capital, so the companies have been able to make some pretty good investments over the last few years,” he said.
View the Wall Street Journal article here.
Written by John Yedinak and Elizabeth Ecker
Companies featured in this article:
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, Health Care REIT, NorthStar Realty Finance Corp., Ventas
