Health Care REIT (HCN) Q2 2012 Earnings Call August 06, 2012 10:00 am ET Executives Jeffrey H. Miller - Executive Vice President of Operations and General Counsel George L. Chapman - Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Member of Planning Committee, Member of Executive Committee and Member of Investment Committee Scott A. Estes - Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Scott M. Brinker - Executive Vice President of Investments Charles J. Herman - Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President Analysts Wilfredo Guilloty - Morgan Stanley, Research Division James Milam - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division Jeff Theiler - Green Street Advisors, Inc., Research Division Nicholas Yulico - Macquarie Research Philip J. Martin - Morningstar Inc., Research Division Michael W. Mueller - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division Todd Stender - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division James W. Sullivan - Cowen and Company, LLC, Research Division Robert M. Mains - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division Tayo Okusanya Jana Galan - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division Karin A. Ford - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division Presentation Operator Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2012 Health Care REIT Earnings Conference Call. My name is Brooke, and I'll be your operator today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. Now I would like to turn the call over to Jeff Miller, Executive Vice President, Operations and General Counsel. Please go ahead, sir. Jeffrey H. Miller Thank you, Brooke. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Health Care REIT's Second Quarter 2012 Conference Call. If you did not receive a copy of the news release distributed this morning, you may access it via the company's website at hcreit.com. We are holding a live webcast of today's call, which may be accessed through the company's website as well.
Certain statements made during this conference call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Health Care REIT believes results projected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the company can give no assurance that its projected results will be attained. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are detailed in the news release and from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC.
I will now turn the call over to George Chapman, Chairman and CEO and President of Health Care REIT, for his opening remarks. George? George L. Chapman Thanks, Jeff. I'm pleased to report another strong quarter for our company and its shareholders. Our relationship investment strategy is hitting on all cylinders, driving $1.1 billion of investments for the second quarter and $1.9 billion year-to-date. And the pipeline remains quite strong. Of the $1.1 billion of new Q2 investments, over 50% of them were with existing partners. As we look over the last 3 quarters, we closed over $2 billion of relationship investments that comprised approximately 2/3 of the total. Importantly, the portfolio generated second quarter year-over-year same-store cash NOI growth of 4.2%. This was led by a strong 7.4% growth from our senior housing operating portfolio. And notably, every category posted at least a 3% NOI growth. During the last 5 years, we have taken advantage of unprecedented opportunities to transform our portfolio into the most diversified, highest-quality, lowest-risk portfolio in the sector. And in the second quarter, our portfolio exceeded 1,000 properties for the first time. And we have attracted the industry's finest operators and health systems, largely as a result of our reputation as a value-added partner. Importantly, due to our relationship investment program, we have the most predictable, consistent investment pipeline in the sector.We continue to work hard to add value to our operator partnerships. We hold regular meetings to exchange ideas regarding best practices, and we are exploring ways in which our operators can take advantage of joint purchasing programs. One tangible result has been the establishment of a property and casualty program that has produced an 18% average cost reduction with improved coverages.
Our private pay percentage is now 74% and is expected to reach 80% within 12 months. And with this private pay percentage and the strong contribution from our RIDEA assets, we continue to believe that our portfolio is undervalued relative to other property types, particularly multifamily. And this belief is supported by a number of factors, but including a continuing cap rate compression in our sector and the strong portfolio NOI growth. These properties were the combination of solid NOI growth and relatively low capital expenditure requirements that performed very well even during the toughest economic times. On May 1 this quarter, we closed a previously announced $937 million Chartwell transaction. Chartwell is Canada's largest senior housing operator, with high-quality assets in Metropolitan areas. This investment will be immediately accretive in markets with excellent demographic trends, and we look forward to a successful partnership and future growth in Canada and other strong markets. Let me discuss another important transaction from the second quarter, and that is our joint venture with Legend Senior Living. Legend and HCN entered into a $279 million joint venture. Of the 15 facilities in the program, 9 were contributed by Legend and 6 by HCN. The real estate will be owned -- is owned 88% by HCN and 12% by Legend. Operations are owned 80% by Legend and 20% by HCN. Legend has been engaged as the independent manager. We expect to expand the joint venture over time through opportunistic acquisitions as well as development of additional facilities in Legend's footprint. This is particularly noteworthy for us as we have been doing business with Tim Buchanan since 1995, when we financed his original company, Sterling House. Sterling House is now part of Brookdale. Tim is one of the early pioneers in our sector and is currently on the Board of Directors of ALFA. We have supported Tim through a number of successful ventures since 1995, and we're gratified to be entering into this larger, more closely aligned relationship with Tim and his team, who have always performed at the highest level. Read the rest of this transcript for free on seekingalpha.com