Ventas acquisition to make it largest healthcare REIT

Real estate investment trust (REIT) Ventas Inc. will acquire all of the outstanding shares of American Realty Capital (ARC) Healthcare Trust Inc. in a $2.6 billion stock and cash transaction expected to make it the largest healthcre REIT in the country. The agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies.

Nicholas S. Schorsch, executive chairman of ARC Healthcare, says the deal, which values ARC Healthcare shares at $11.33 each, allows his company’s shareholders “to participate in the future growth of what will become the largest, and in my view, best-managed healthcare REIT and sixth largest overall REIT in the country.”

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to the approval of ARC Healthcare shareholders and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The acquisition will add 143 properties and a pipeline of more than $250 million in potential investments, Ventas said in a news release.

In other news, Ventas announced that it will acquire 29 independent living seniors housing communities in Canada from Holiday Retirement in a separate transaction for about $900 million in U.S. dollars. That transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. When it does, the operations for the acquired communities will be transitioned to Atria, which will manage a total of 173 communities for Ventas, including two unrelated communities that Ventas acquired after the first quarter.

“With the addition of ARC Healthcare and the Canadian seniors housing communities, we are continuing our focus on private-pay assets, expanding our industry-leading [medical office building] footprint and international presence and increasing our diversification while maintaining a strong credit profile and balance sheet,” says Debra A. Cafaro, Ventas chairman and CEO.

Ventas currently has almost 1,500 properties—skilled nursing facilities, seniors housing communities, medical office buildings, hospitals and others—in 47 states, two Canadian provinces and the United Kingdom. ARC Healthcare’s portfolio mainly contains seniors housing communities and medical office buildings.

Read the press release posted via Business Wire.