Item 1. Business.
The use of the words “we,” “us” or “our” refers to Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Holdings, LP, except where otherwise noted.
Company
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III, Inc., a Maryland corporation, invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate properties, focusing primarily on medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities. We also operate healthcare-related facilities utilizing the structure permitted by the REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act of 2007, which is commonly referred to as a “RIDEA” structure (the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, authorizing the RIDEA structure were enacted as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008). We have originated and acquired secured loans and may also originate and acquire other real estate-related investments on an infrequent and opportunistic basis. We generally seek investments that produce current income; however, we have selectively developed, and may continue to selectively develop, real estate properties. We qualified to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, under the Code for federal income tax purposes beginning with our taxable year ended December 31, 2014, and we intend to continue to qualify to be taxed as a REIT.
We raised $1,842,618,000 through a best efforts initial public offering, or our initial offering, and issued 184,930,598 shares of our common stock. In addition, during our initial offering, we issued 1,948,563 shares of our common stock pursuant to our initial distribution reinvestment plan, or the Initial DRIP, for a total of $18,511,000 in distributions reinvested. Following the deregistration of our initial offering, we continued issuing shares of our common stock pursuant to the Initial DRIP through a subsequent offering, or the 2015 DRIP Offering. Effective October 5, 2016, we amended and restated the Initial DRIP, or the Amended and Restated DRIP, to amend the price at which shares of our common stock were issued pursuant to the 2015 DRIP Offering. A total of $245,396,000 in distributions were reinvested that resulted in 26,386,545 shares of common stock being issued pursuant to the 2015 DRIP Offering.
On January 30, 2019, we filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, to register a maximum of $200,000,000 of additional shares of our common stock to be issued pursuant to the Amended and Restated DRIP, or the 2019 DRIP Offering. We commenced offering shares pursuant to the 2019 DRIP Offering on April 1, 2019, following the deregistration of the 2015 DRIP Offering. On May 29, 2020, our board of directors, or our board, authorized the suspension of the Amended and Restated DRIP. See the “Key Developments” section below for a further discussion of the 2019 DRIP Offering and the Amended and Restated DRIP. As of December 31, 2020, a total of $63,105,000 in distributions were reinvested that resulted in 6,724,348 shares of common stock being issued pursuant to the 2019 DRIP Offering. We collectively refer to the Initial DRIP portion of our initial offering, the 2015 DRIP Offering and the 2019 DRIP Offering as our DRIP Offerings.
We conduct substantially all of our operations through Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Holdings, LP, or our operating partnership. We are externally advised by Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Advisor, LLC, or our advisor, pursuant to an advisory agreement between us and our advisor that was effective as of February 26, 2014 and had a one-year initial term, subject to successive one-year renewals upon the mutual consent of the parties. The advisory agreement, as amended to clarify certain indemnification provisions and last renewed on February 22, 2021, or the Advisory Agreement, expires on February 26, 2022. Our advisor uses its best efforts, subject to the oversight, review and approval of our board, to, among other things, research, identify, review and make investments in and dispositions of properties and securities on our behalf consistent with our investment policies and objectives. Our advisor performs its duties and responsibilities under the Advisory Agreement as our fiduciary. Our advisor is 75.0% owned and managed by wholly owned subsidiaries of American Healthcare Investors, LLC, or American Healthcare Investors, and 25.0% owned by a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffin Capital Company, LLC, or Griffin Capital, or collectively, our co-sponsors. American Healthcare Investors is 47.1% owned by AHI Group Holdings, LLC, or AHI Group Holdings, 45.1% indirectly owned by Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY), or Colony Capital, and 7.8% owned by James F. Flaherty III, a former partner of Colony Capital. We are not affiliated with Griffin Capital, Griffin Capital Securities, LLC, the dealer manager for our initial offering, or our dealer manager, Colony Capital or Mr. Flaherty; however, we are affiliated with our advisor, American Healthcare Investors and AHI Group Holdings.
Since March 2020, the coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic has been dramatically impacting the United States, which has resulted in an aggressive worldwide effort to contain the spread of the virus. These efforts have significantly and adversely disrupted economic markets and impacted commercial activity worldwide, including markets in which we own and/or operate properties, and the prolonged economic impact remains uncertain. In addition, the continuously evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult to ascertain the long-term impact it will have on real estate markets and our portfolio of
investments. Considerable uncertainty still surrounds the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the population, as well as the effectiveness of any responses taken on an international, national and local level by government and public health authorities and businesses to contain and combat the outbreak and spread of the virus, including the widespread availability and use of effective vaccines. In particular, government-imposed business closures and re-opening restrictions, as well as self-imposed restrictions on discretionary activities, have dramatically impacted the operations of our real estate investments and our tenants across the country, such as creating significant declines in resident occupancy. Further, our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses have also experienced dramatic increases, and may continue to experience increases, in costs to care for residents; particularly labor costs to maintain staffing levels to care for the aged population during this crisis, costs of COVID-19 testing of employees and residents and costs to procure the volume of personal protective equipment, or PPE, and other supplies required. For a further discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to our business, see Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Key Developments
•In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 31, 2020, our board approved a daily distribution rate for April and May 2020 equal to $0.000821918 per share of our common stock, which was equal to an annualized distribution rate of $0.30 per share, a decrease from the annualized rate of $0.60 per share previously paid by us. On March 31, 2020, our board also partially suspended our share repurchase plan with respect to all repurchase requests other than repurchases resulting from the death or qualifying disability of stockholders.
•On May 29, 2020, in consideration of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the United States, globally and our business operations, as well as to protect our capital and maximize our liquidity in an effort to strengthen our long-term financial prospects, our board authorized the suspension of all stockholder distributions and the Amended and Restated DRIP until such time, if any, as our board determines to authorize new distributions and to reinstate such plan. Such suspensions were effective upon the completion of all shares issued with respect to distributions payable to stockholders of record on or prior to the close of business on May 31, 2020. Furthermore, on May 29, 2020, our board approved the suspension of our share repurchase plan with respect to all share repurchase requests received after May 31, 2020, including repurchases resulting from death or qualifying disability of stockholders.
•On July 28, 2020, we entered into an amendment to our credit agreement with Bank of America, N.A., KeyBank, National Association, Citizens Bank, National Association, and a syndicate of other banks, as lenders, primarily to amend certain loan covenants. See Note 8, Lines of Credit and Term Loans — 2019 Corporate Line of Credit, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for a further discussion of the material terms of such amendment.
•During 2020, we expanded our integrated senior health campuses segment by $97,507,000 through the completion of development projects, as well as the acquisition of previously leased campuses and land for development through our majority-owned subsidiary, Trilogy Investors, LLC, or Trilogy.
•In October 2020, our board established a special committee of our board, which consists of all of our independent directors, to investigate and analyze strategic alternatives, including but not limited to, the sale of our assets, a listing of our shares on a national securities exchange, or a merger with another entity, including a merger with another unlisted entity that we expect would enhance our value. There can be no assurance that this strategic alternative review process will result in a transaction being pursued or if pursued, that any such transaction would ultimately be consummated. For a further discussion, see Part III, Item 10, Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
•On March 18, 2021, our board, at the recommendation of the audit committee of our board, comprised solely of independent directors, unanimously approved and established an updated estimated per share NAV of our common stock of $8.55 as of September 30, 2020. For a further discussion, see Part II, Item 5, Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities, and Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
•As of March 12, 2021, we owned and/or operated 98 properties, comprising 101 buildings, and 120 integrated senior health campuses including completed development projects, or approximately 14,161,000 square feet of gross leasable area, or GLA, for an aggregate contract purchase price of $3,163,755,000. In addition, as of March 12, 2021, we also owned a real estate-related investment purchased for $60,429,000.
Our Structure
The following chart indicates the relationship among us, our advisor and certain of its affiliates as of March 25, 2021:
Our principal executive offices are located at 18191 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 300, Irvine, California 92612, and our telephone number is (949) 270-9200. We maintain a web site at http://www.healthcarereit3.com, at which there is additional information about us and our affiliates. The contents of that site are not incorporated by reference in, or otherwise a part of, this filing. We make our periodic and current reports and all amendments to those reports available at
http://www.healthcarereit3.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. They also are available for printing by any stockholder upon request. In addition, copies of our filings with the SEC may be obtained from the SEC’s website, http://www.sec.gov. Access to these filings is free of charge.
Investment Objectives
Our investment objectives are:
•to preserve, protect and return our stockholders’ capital contributions;
•to pay regular cash distributions; and
•to realize growth in the value of our investments upon our ultimate sale of such investments.
Our board may change our investment objectives if it determines it is advisable and in the best interest of our stockholders. During the term of the Advisory Agreement, decisions relating to the purchase or sale of investments will be made by our advisor, subject to approval by our advisor’s investment committee and oversight and approval by our board.
Investment Strategy
We have and we may continue to invest in a diversified portfolio of real estate properties, focusing primarily on medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities, such as long-term acute care centers, surgery centers, memory care facilities, specialty medical and diagnostic service facilities, laboratories and research facilities, pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturing facilities and offices leased to tenants in healthcare-related industries. We have acquired, and may continue to acquire, properties either directly or jointly with third parties. We also have originated and acquired, and may continue to originate or acquire, secured loans and other real estate-related investments on an infrequent and opportunistic basis.
We generally seek investments that produce current income; however, we have selectively developed, and may continue to selectively develop, real estate properties. When and as determined appropriate by our advisor, our portfolio may include properties in various stages of development other than those producing current income. These stages include unimproved land both with and without entitlements and permits, property to be redeveloped and repositioned, newly constructed properties and properties in lease-up or other stabilization, all of which have limited or no relevant operating histories and current income. Our advisor makes such investment determinations based upon a variety of factors, including the available risk-adjusted returns for such properties when compared with other available properties, the appropriate diversification of the portfolio and our objectives of realizing both current income and capital appreciation upon the ultimate sale of properties.
We seek to maximize long-term stockholder value by generating sustainable growth in cash flows and portfolio value. In order to achieve these objectives, we may invest using a number of investment structures, which may include direct acquisitions, joint ventures, leveraged investments, issuing securities for property and direct and indirect investments in real estate. In order to maintain our exemption from regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act, we may be required to limit our investments in certain types of real estate-related investments. See “Investment Company Act Considerations” below for a further discussion.
For each of our investments, regardless of property type, we seek to invest in properties with the following attributes:
•Quality. We seek to acquire properties that are suitable for their intended use with a quality of construction that is capable of sustaining the property’s investment potential for the long-term, assuming funding of budgeted maintenance, repairs and capital improvements.
•Location. We seek to acquire properties that are located in established or otherwise appropriate markets for comparable properties, with access and visibility suitable to meet the needs of its occupants. In addition to United States properties, we also seek to acquire international properties that meet our investment criteria.
•Market; Supply and Demand. We focus on local or regional markets that have potential for stable and growing property level cash flows over the long-term. These determinations are based in part on an evaluation of local and regional economic, demographic and regulatory factors affecting the property. For instance, we favor markets that indicate a growing population and employment base or markets that exhibit potential limitations on additions to supply, such as barriers to new construction. Barriers to new construction include lack of available
land and stringent zoning restrictions. In addition, we generally seek to limit our investments in areas that have limited potential for growth.
•Predictable Capital Needs. We seek to acquire properties where the future expected capital needs can be reasonably projected in a manner that would enable us to meet our objectives of growth in cash flows and preservation of capital and stability.
•Cash Flows. We seek to acquire properties where the current and projected cash flows, including the potential for appreciation in value, would enable us to meet our overall investment objectives. We evaluate cash flows as well as expected growth and the potential for appreciation.
We are not limited as to the geographic areas where we may acquire properties. We are not specifically limited in the number or size of properties we may acquire or on the percentage of our assets that we may invest in a single property or investment, and we have not invested more than 25.0% of the proceeds available for investment from our initial offering in international properties. The number and mix of properties and real estate-related investments we will acquire will depend upon real estate and market conditions and other circumstances existing at the time we are acquiring our properties and making our investments and the amount of debt financing available.
Real Estate Investments
We have invested, and may continue to invest, in a diversified portfolio of real estate investments, focusing primarily on medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities. We generally seek investments that produce current income. Our investments may include:
•medical office buildings;
•hospitals;
•skilled nursing facilities;
•senior housing facilities;
•healthcare-related facilities operated utilizing a RIDEA structure;
•long-term acute care facilities;
•surgery centers;
•memory care facilities;
•specialty medical and diagnostic service facilities;
•laboratories and research facilities;
•pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturing facilities; and
•offices leased to tenants in healthcare-related industries.
Our advisor generally seeks to acquire real estate on our behalf of the types described above that will best enable us to meet our investment objectives, taking into account the diversification of our portfolio at the time, relevant real estate and financial factors, the location, the income-producing capacity and the prospects for long-range appreciation of a particular property and other considerations. As a result, we may acquire properties other than the types described above. In addition, we may acquire properties that vary from the parameters described above for a particular property type.
The consideration for each real estate investment must be authorized by a majority of our independent directors or a duly authorized committee of our board and ordinarily is based on the fair market value of the investment. If the majority of our independent directors or a duly authorized committee of our board so determines, or if the investment is to be acquired from an affiliate, the fair market value determination must be supported by an appraisal obtained from a qualified independent appraiser selected by a majority of our independent directors.
Our real estate investments generally take the form of holding fee title or long-term leasehold interests. Our investments may be made either directly through our operating partnership or indirectly through investments in joint ventures, limited liability companies, general partnerships or other co-ownership arrangements with the developers of the properties, affiliates of our advisor or other persons. See “Joint Ventures” below for a further discussion.
We have exercised, and may continue to exercise, our purchase options to acquire properties that we currently lease. In addition, we have participated in sale-leaseback transactions, in which we purchase real estate investments and lease them back to the sellers of such properties. Our advisor will use its best efforts to structure any such sale-leaseback transaction such that
the lease will be characterized as a “true lease” and so that we will be treated as the owner of the property for federal income tax purposes.
Our obligation to close a transaction involving the purchase of real estate is generally conditioned upon the delivery and verification of certain documents from the seller or developer, including, where appropriate:
•plans and specifications;
•environmental reports (generally a minimum of a Phase I investigation);
•building condition reports;
•surveys;
•evidence of marketable title subject to such liens and encumbrances as are acceptable to our advisor;
•audited financial statements covering recent operations of real properties having operating histories unless such statements are not required to be filed with the SEC and delivered to stockholders;
•title insurance policies; and
•liability insurance policies.
In determining whether to purchase a particular real estate investment, we may, in circumstances in which our advisor deems it appropriate, obtain an option on such property, including land suitable for development. The amount paid for an option is normally surrendered if the real estate is not purchased, and is normally credited against the purchase price if the real estate is purchased. We also may enter into arrangements with the seller or developer of a real estate investment whereby the seller or developer agrees that if, during a stated period, the real estate investment does not generate specified cash flows, the seller or developer will pay us cash in an amount necessary to reach the specified cash flows level, subject in some cases to negotiated dollar limitations.
We will not purchase or lease real estate in which one of our co-sponsors, our advisor, any of our directors or any of their affiliates have an interest without a determination by a majority of our disinterested directors and a majority of our disinterested independent directors that such transaction is fair and reasonable to us and at a price to us no greater than the cost of the real estate investment to the affiliated seller or lessor, unless there is substantial justification for the excess amount and the excess amount is reasonable. In no event will we acquire any such real estate investment at an amount in excess of its current appraised value.
We have obtained, and we intend to continue to obtain, adequate insurance coverage for all real estate investments in which we invest.
We have acquired, and we intend to continue to acquire, leased properties with long-term leases and we generally do not intend to operate any healthcare-related facilities directly. As a REIT, we are prohibited from operating healthcare-related facilities directly; however, we have leased, and may continue to lease, healthcare-related facilities that we acquire to wholly owned taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRS. In such an event, our TRS will engage a third party in the business of operating healthcare-related facilities to manage the property utilizing a RIDEA structure permitted by the Code. Through our TRS, we bear all operational risks and liabilities associated with the operation of such healthcare-related facilities unlike our triple-net leased properties. Such operational risks and liabilities include, but are not limited to, resident quality of care claims and governmental reimbursement matters.
Development and Construction Activities
On an opportunistic basis, we have selectively developed, and may continue to selectively develop, real estate assets within our integrated senior health campuses segment when market conditions warrant, which may be funded through capital that we, and in certain circumstances, our joint venture partners, provide. As of December 31, 2020, we had three integrated senior health campuses under development. In doing so, we may be able to reduce overall purchase costs by developing property versus purchasing an existing property. We retain and will continue to retain independent contractors to perform the actual construction work on tenant improvements, as well as property development.
We have engaged, and may continue to engage, our advisor or its affiliates to provide development-related services for all or some of the properties that we develop or acquire for refurbishment. In those cases, we pay our advisor or its affiliates a development fee that is usual and customary for comparable services rendered for similar projects in the geographic market where the services are provided. However, we do not pay a development fee to our advisor or its affiliates if our advisor or its affiliates elect to receive an acquisition fee based on the cost of such development. In the event that our advisor or its affiliates assist with planning and coordinating the construction of any tenant improvements or capital improvements, the respective party may be paid a construction management fee of up to 5.0% of the cost of such improvements.
Joint Ventures
We have entered into, and we may continue to enter into, joint ventures, general partnerships and other arrangements with one or more institutions or individuals, including real estate developers, operators, owners, investors and others, some of whom may be affiliates of our advisor, for the purpose of acquiring real estate. Such joint ventures may be leveraged with debt financing or unleveraged. We have entered into, and may continue to enter into, joint ventures to further diversify our investments or to access investments which meet our investment criteria that would otherwise be unavailable to us. In determining whether to invest in a particular joint venture, our advisor will evaluate the real estate that such joint venture owns or is being formed to own under the same criteria described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the selection of our other properties. However, we will not participate in tenant in common syndications or transactions.
Joint ventures with unaffiliated third parties may be structured such that the investment made by us and the co-venturer are on substantially different terms and conditions. For example, while we and a co-venturer may invest an equal amount of capital in an investment, the investment may be structured such that we have a right to priority distributions of cash flows up to a certain target return while the co-venturer may receive a disproportionately greater share of cash flows than we are to receive once such target return has been achieved. This type of investment structure may result in the co-venturer receiving more of the cash flows, including appreciation, of an investment than we would receive. See Item 1A, Risk Factors — Risks Related to Joint Ventures, for a further discussion.
We have invested, and may continue to invest, in general partnerships or joint ventures with other American Healthcare Investors-sponsored programs or Griffin Capital programs or affiliates of our advisor to enable us to increase our equity participation in such ventures, so that ultimately we own a larger equity percentage of the property. Our entering into joint ventures with our advisor or any of its affiliates may result in certain conflicts of interest. See Item 1A, Risk Factors — Risks Related to Conflicts of Interest — We have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint ventures with other programs sponsored or advised by one of our co-sponsors or one of their affiliates, and we may face conflicts of interest or disagreements with our joint venture partners that may not be resolved as quickly or on terms as advantageous to us as would be the case if the joint venture had been negotiated at arm’s-length with an independent joint venture partner, for a further discussion.
We may only enter into joint ventures with other American Healthcare Investors-sponsored programs or Griffin Capital programs, affiliates of our advisor or any of our directors for the acquisition of properties if:
•a majority of our directors, including a majority of our independent directors, not otherwise interested in such transaction, approves the transaction as being fair and reasonable to us; and
•the investment by us and such affiliates are on substantially the same terms and conditions.
Real Estate-Related Investments
In addition to our acquisition of medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities, on an infrequent and opportunistic basis, we have invested, and may continue to invest, in real estate-related investments, including loans and securities investments.
Investing In and Originating Loans
We have invested, and we may continue to invest, in first and second mortgage loans, mezzanine loans and bridge loans. However, we will not make or invest in any loans that are subordinate to any mortgage or equity interest of our advisor, any of our directors, one of our co-sponsors, or any of our affiliates. We also may invest in participations in mortgage loans. Second mortgage loans are secured by second deeds of trust on real property that is already subject to prior mortgage indebtedness. A mezzanine loan is a loan made in respect of certain real property but is secured by a lien on the ownership interests of the entity that, directly or indirectly, owns the real property. A bridge loan is short term financing, for an individual or business, until permanent or the next stage of financing can be obtained. Mortgage participation investments are investments in partial interests of mortgages of the type described above that are made and administered by third-party mortgage lenders. In evaluating prospective loan investments, our advisor considers factors, including, but not limited to: the ratio of the investment amount to the underlying property’s value, current and projected cash flows of the property, the degree of liquidity of the investment, the quality, experience and creditworthiness of the borrower and, in the case of mezzanine loans, the ability to acquire the underlying real property.
Our criteria for making or investing in loans are substantially the same as those involved in our investment in properties. We do not intend to make loans to other persons, to underwrite securities of other issuers or to engage in the purchase and sale of any types of investments other than those relating to real estate. We will not make or invest in mortgage loans on any one property if the aggregate amount of all mortgage loans outstanding on the property, including our loan, would exceed an amount equal to 85.0% of the appraised value of the property, as determined by an appraiser, unless we find substantial justification due to other underwriting criteria; however, our policy generally will be that the aggregate amount of all mortgage
loans outstanding on the property, including our loan, would not exceed 75.0% of the appraised value of the property. We may find such justification in connection with the purchase of loans in cases in which we believe there is a high probability of our foreclosure upon the property in order to acquire the underlying assets and in which the cost of the loan investment does not exceed the fair market value of the underlying property. We will not invest in or make loans unless an appraisal has been obtained concerning the underlying property, except for those loans insured or guaranteed by a government or government agency. In cases in which a majority of our independent directors so determine and in the event the transaction is with our advisor, any of our directors or their respective affiliates, the appraisal will be obtained from a certified independent appraiser to support its determination of fair market value. In addition, we will seek to obtain a customary lender’s title insurance policy or commitment as to the priority of the mortgage or condition of the title. Because the factors considered, including the specific weight we place on each factor, will vary for each prospective loan investment, we do not, and are not able to, assign a specific weight or level of importance to any particular factor.
Our advisor will evaluate all potential loan investments to determine if the security for the loan and the loan-to-value ratio meets our investment criteria and objectives. Most loans that we will consider for investment would provide for monthly payments of interest and some may also provide for principal amortization, although many loans of the nature that we will consider provide for payments of interest only and a payment of principal in full at the end of the loan term. We will not originate loans with negative amortization provisions.
We are not limited as to the amount of our assets that may be invested in mezzanine loans, bridge loans and second mortgage loans. However, we recognize that these types of loans are riskier than first deeds of trust or first priority mortgages on income-producing, fee-simple properties, and we expect to minimize the amount of these types of loans in our portfolio. Our advisor will evaluate the fact that these types of loans are riskier in determining the rate of interest on the loans. We do not have any policy that limits the amount that we may invest in any single loan or the amount we may invest in loans to any one borrower. We have not established a portfolio turnover policy with respect to loans we invest in or originate.
Investing in Securities
We have invested, and may continue to invest, up to 10.0% of our total assets in debt securities such as commercial mortgage-backed securities issued by other unaffiliated real estate companies. Our advisor has substantial discretion with respect to the selection of specific securities investments. We may also invest up to 10.0% of our total assets in equity securities of public or private real estate companies, although our charter provides that we may not invest in equity securities unless a majority of our directors, including a majority of our independent directors, not otherwise interested in the transaction, approve such investment as being fair, competitive and commercially reasonable. Consistent with such requirements, in determining the types of securities investments to make, our advisor adheres to a board-approved asset allocation framework consisting primarily of components such as: (i) target mix of securities across a range of risk/reward characteristics; (ii) exposure limits to individual securities; and (iii) exposure limits to securities subclasses (such as common equities, debt securities and foreign securities).
Commercial mortgage-backed securities are securities that evidence interests in, or are secured by, a single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of commercial mortgage loans. Commercial mortgage-backed securities generally are pass-through certificates that represent beneficial ownership interests in common law trusts whose assets consist of defined portfolios of one or more commercial mortgage loans. They typically are issued in multiple tranches whereby the more senior classes are entitled to priority distributions from the trust’s income. Losses and other shortfalls from expected amounts to be received in the mortgage pool are borne by the most subordinate classes, which receive payments only after the more senior classes have received all principal and/or interest to which they are entitled. Commercial mortgage-backed securities are subject to all of the risks of the underlying mortgage loans. We may invest in investment grade and non-investment grade commercial mortgage-backed securities.
The specific number and mix of securities in which we invest will depend upon real estate market conditions, other circumstances existing at the time we are investing in securities and the amount of any future indebtedness that we may incur. We will not invest in securities of other issuers for the purpose of exercising control and the first or second mortgages in which we intend to invest will likely not be insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs or otherwise guaranteed or insured. Real estate-related equity securities are generally unsecured and also may be subordinated to other obligations of the issuer. Our investments in real estate-related equity securities will involve special risks relating to the particular issuer of the equity securities, including the financial condition and business outlook of the issuer.
Our Strategies and Policies With Respect to Borrowing
We have used, and intend to continue to use, secured and unsecured debt as a means of providing additional funds for the acquisition of properties and real estate-related investments. Our ability to enhance our investment returns and to increase our diversification by acquiring assets using additional funds provided through borrowing could be adversely impacted if banks and
other lending institutions reduce the amount of funds available for the types of loans we seek. When interest rates are high or financing is otherwise unavailable on a timely basis, we may purchase certain assets for cash with the intention of obtaining debt financing at a later time. We have also used, and may continue to use, derivative financial instruments such as fixed interest rate swaps and caps to add stability to interest expense and to manage our exposure to interest rate movements.
We anticipate that our overall leverage will approximate 45.0% of the combined fair market value of all of our properties and other real estate-related investments, as determined at the end of each calendar year. For these purposes, the market value of each asset will be equal to the contract purchase price paid for the asset or, if the asset was appraised subsequent to the date of purchase, then the market value will be equal to the value reported in the most recent independent appraisal of the asset. Our policies do not limit the amount we may borrow with respect to any individual investment. As of December 31, 2020, our aggregate borrowings were 45.9% of the combined market value of all of our real estate and real estate-related investments.
Under our charter, we have a limitation on borrowing that precludes us from borrowing in excess of 300% of our net assets without the approval of a majority of our independent directors. Net assets for purposes of this calculation are defined to be our total assets (other than intangibles), valued at cost prior to deducting depreciation, amortization, bad debt and other similar non-cash reserves, less total liabilities. Generally, the preceding calculation is expected to approximate 75.0% of the aggregate cost of our real estate and real estate-related investments before depreciation, amortization, bad debt and other similar non-cash reserves. In addition, we may incur mortgage debt and pledge some or all of our real properties as security for that debt to obtain funds to acquire additional real estate or for working capital. Furthermore, we may borrow if we otherwise deem it necessary or advisable to ensure that we maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. As of March 25, 2021 and December 31, 2020, our leverage did not exceed 300% of the value of our net assets. Our charter also restricts us from borrowing money from one of our co-sponsors, our advisor, any of our directors or any of their respective affiliates unless such loan is approved by a majority of our directors, including a majority of our independent directors, not otherwise interested in the transaction, as being fair, competitive and commercially reasonable and no less favorable to us than comparable loans between unaffiliated parties.
Our board controls our strategies with respect to borrowing and may change such strategies at any time without stockholder approval, subject to the maximum borrowing limit of 300% of our net assets described above. Our advisor uses its best efforts to obtain financing on the most favorable terms available to us and refinances assets during the term of a loan only in limited circumstances, such as when a decline in interest rates makes it beneficial to prepay an existing loan, when an existing loan matures or if an attractive investment becomes available and the proceeds from the refinancing can be used to purchase such investment. The benefits of the refinancing may include increased cash flows resulting from reduced debt service requirements, an increase in distributions from proceeds of the refinancing, and an increase in diversification and assets owned if all or a portion of the refinancing proceeds are reinvested.
When incurring secured debt, we may incur recourse indebtedness, which means that the lenders’ rights upon our default generally will not be limited to foreclosure on the property that secured the obligation. If we incur mortgage indebtedness, we will endeavor to obtain level payment financing, meaning that the amount of debt service payable would be substantially the same each year, although some mortgages are likely to provide for one large payment and we may incur floating or adjustable rate financing when our board determines it to be in our best interest.
Sale or Disposition of Assets
We have, and may continue to, dispose of assets. Our advisor and our board determine whether a particular property or real estate-related investment should be sold or otherwise disposed of after consideration of the relevant factors, including prevailing economic conditions, with a view toward maximizing our investment objectives. We intend to hold each property or real estate-related investment we acquire for an extended period. However, circumstances might arise which could result in a shortened holding period for certain investments. A property or real estate-related investment may be sold before the end of the expected holding period if:
•diversification benefits exist associated with disposing of the investment and rebalancing our investment portfolio;
•an opportunity arises to pursue a more attractive investment;
•in the judgment of our advisor, the value of the investment might decline;
•with respect to properties, a major tenant involuntarily liquidates or is in default under its lease;
•the investment was acquired as part of a portfolio acquisition and does not meet our general acquisition criteria;
•an opportunity exists to enhance overall investment returns by raising capital through sale of the investment; or
•in the judgment of our advisor, the sale of the investment is in the best interest of our stockholders.
The determination of whether a particular property or real estate-related investment should be sold or otherwise disposed of will be made after consideration of the relevant factors, including prevailing economic conditions, with a view toward maximizing our investment objectives.
Terms of Leases
The terms and conditions of any lease we enter into with our tenants may vary substantially from those we describe in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. However, we expect that a majority of our leases will require the tenant to pay or reimburse us for some or all of the operating expenses of the building based on the tenant’s proportionate share of rentable space within the building. Operating expenses typically include, but are not limited to, real estate and other taxes, utilities, insurance and building repairs, and other building operation and management costs. We expect to be responsible for the replacement of specific structural components of a property such as the roof of the building or the parking lot. We expect that many of our leases will have terms of five or more years, some of which may have renewal options.
Board Review of Our Investment Policies and Report of Independent Directors
Our board has established written policies on investments and borrowing. Our board is responsible for monitoring the administrative procedures, investment operations and performance of our company and our advisor to ensure such policies are carried out. Our charter requires that our independent directors review our investment policies at least annually to determine that the policies we are following are in the best interest of our stockholders. Each determination and the basis therefore is required to be set forth in the minutes of the applicable meetings of our directors. Implementation of our investment policies also may vary as new investment techniques are developed. Our investment policies may not be altered by our board without the approval of our stockholders.
As required by our charter, our independent directors have reviewed our policies outlined above and determined that they are in the best interests of our stockholders because: (i) they increase the likelihood that we will be able to acquire a diversified portfolio of income-producing properties, thereby reducing risk in our portfolio; (ii) there are sufficient property acquisition opportunities with the attributes that we seek; (iii) our executive officers, directors and affiliates of our advisor have expertise with the type of real estate investments we seek; and (iv) our borrowings will enable us to purchase assets and earn more real estate revenue earlier than we would have otherwise been able to, thereby increasing our likelihood of generating income for our stockholders and preserving stockholder capital.
Tax Status and Distribution Policy
As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on taxable income that we distribute to our stockholders. We qualified, and elected to be taxed, as a REIT under the Code for federal income tax purposes beginning with our taxable year ended December 31, 2014, and we intend to continue to qualify to be taxed as a REIT. To maintain our qualification as a REIT, we must meet certain organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement to currently distribute at least 90.0% of our annual taxable income, excluding net capital gains, to our stockholders. Existing Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, guidance includes a safe harbor pursuant to which publicly offered REITs can satisfy the distribution requirement by distributing a combination of cash and stock to stockholders. In general, to qualify under the safe harbor, each stockholder must elect to receive either cash or stock, and the aggregate cash component of the distribution to stockholders must represent at least 20.0% of the total distribution. In May 2020, the IRS issued similar guidance that lowered the cash component of the distribution to 10.0% for dividends declared between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
We cannot predict if we will generate sufficient cash flows to continue to pay cash distributions to our stockholders on an ongoing basis or at all. The amount of any cash distributions is determined by our board and depends on the amount of distributable funds, current and projected cash requirements, tax considerations, any limitations imposed by the terms of indebtedness we may incur and other factors. If our investments produce sufficient cash flows, we expect to resume paying distributions to our stockholders on a monthly basis. Because our cash available for distribution in any year may be less than 90.0% of our annual taxable income, excluding net capital gains, for the year, we may be required to borrow money, use proceeds from the issuance of securities (in subsequent offerings, if any) or sell assets to pay out enough of our taxable income to satisfy the distribution requirement. These methods of obtaining funds could affect future distributions by increasing operating costs. We did not establish any limit on the amount of net proceeds from our initial offering or borrowings that may be used to fund distributions, except that, in accordance with our organizational documents and Maryland law, we may not make distributions that would: (i) cause us to be unable to pay our debts as they become due in the usual course of business; or (ii) cause our total assets to be less than the sum of our total liabilities plus senior liquidation preferences.
To the extent that any distributions to our stockholders are paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits, such distributions are taxable as ordinary income. To the extent that any of our distributions exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits, such amounts constitute a return of capital to our stockholders for federal income tax purposes, to the extent of their basis in their stock and thereafter will constitute capital gain. Any portion of distributions to our stockholders paid from net offering proceeds or borrowings constitutes a return of capital to our stockholders.
Monthly distributions were calculated with daily record dates so distribution benefits began to accrue immediately upon becoming a stockholder. However, our board could, at any time, elect to pay distributions quarterly to reduce administrative costs. The amount of distributions we paid to our stockholders was determined by our board and was dependent on a number of factors, including funds available for the payment of distributions, our financial condition, capital expenditure requirements, annual distribution requirements needed to maintain our status as a REIT under the Code and restrictions imposed by our organizational documents and Maryland Law.
See Part II, Item 5, Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities — Distributions, for a further discussion of distributions approved by our board.
Competition
We compete with many other entities engaged in the acquisition, development, leasing and financing of healthcare-related real estate investments. Our ability to successfully compete is impacted by economic trends, availability of acceptable investment opportunities, our ability to negotiate beneficial investment terms, availability and cost of capital, construction and development costs and applicable laws and regulations.
Income from our investments is dependent on the ability of our tenants and operators to compete with other healthcare operators. These operators compete on a local and regional basis for patients and residents and the operators’ ability to successfully attract and retain patients and residents depends on key factors such as the number of properties in the local market, the quality of the affiliated health system, proximity to hospital campuses, the price and range of services available, the scope and quality of care, reputation, age and appearance of each property, demographic trends and the cost of care in each locality. As a result, we may have to provide rent concessions, incur charges for tenant improvements, or offer other inducements, or we may be unable to timely lease vacant space in our properties, all of which may have an adverse impact on our results of operations. Private, federal and state payment programs and the effect of other laws and regulations may also have a significant impact on the ability of our tenants and operators to compete successfully for patients and residents at the properties. For additional information on the risks associated with our business, please see Item 1A, Risk Factors.
Government Regulations
Our properties are subject to various federal, state and local regulatory requirements, and changes in these laws and regulations, or their interpretation by agencies, occur frequently. Further, our tenants and our healthcare facility operators and managers, including our TRS entities that own and operate our properties under a RIDEA structure, and our tenants are typically subject to extensive and complex federal, state and local healthcare laws and regulations relating to quality of care, government reimbursement, fraud and abuse practices, and similar laws governing the operation of healthcare facilities, and we expect the healthcare industry, in general, will continue to face increased regulation and pressure in the areas of healthcare management, fraud and provision of services, among others. If we fail to comply with these various requirements, we may incur governmental fines or private damage awards. While we believe that our properties are and will be in substantial compliance with all of these regulatory requirements, we do not know whether existing requirements will change or whether future requirements will require us to make significant unanticipated capital expenditures that will adversely affect our ability to make distributions to our stockholders. We believe, based in part on third-party due diligence reports which are generally obtained at the time we acquire the properties, that all of our properties comply in all material respects with current regulations. However, if we were required to make significant expenditures under applicable regulations, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay distributions could be adversely affected.
Privacy and Security Laws and Regulations. There are various United States federal and state privacy laws and regulations that provide for consumer protection of personal health information, particularly electronic security and privacy. Compliance with such laws and regulations may require us to, among other things, conduct additional risk analysis, modify our risk management plan, implement new policies and procedures and conduct additional training. We are generally dependent on our tenants and management companies to fulfill our compliance obligations, and we have in certain circumstances developed a program to periodically monitor compliance with such obligations. However, there can be no assurance we would not be required to alter one or more of our systems and data security procedures to be in compliance with these laws. If we fail to adequately protect health information, we could be subject to civil or criminal liability and adverse publicity, which could harm our business and impact our ability to attract new tenants and residents. We may be required to notify individuals, as well as government agencies and the media, if we experience a data breach.
Healthcare Licensure and Certification. Generally, certain properties in our portfolio are subject to licensure, may require a certificate of need, or CON, or other certification through regulatory agencies in order to operate and participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Requirements pertaining to such licensure and certification relate to the quality of care provided by the operator, qualifications of the operator’s staff and continuing compliance with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, CON laws and regulations may place restrictions on certain activities such as the addition of beds at our facilities and changes in ownership. Failure to obtain a license, CON or other certification, or revocation, suspension or restriction of such required license, CON or other certification, could adversely impact our properties’ operations and their ability to generate revenue from services provided. State CON laws are not uniform throughout the United States and are subject to change. We cannot predict the impact of state CON laws on our facilities or the operations of our tenants.
Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, or the ADA, all public accommodations must meet federal requirements for access and use by disabled persons. Additional federal, state and local laws also may require modifications to our properties or restrict our ability to renovate our properties. We cannot predict the cost of compliance with the ADA or other legislation. We may incur substantial costs to comply with the ADA or any other legislation.
Government Environmental Regulation and Private Litigation. Environmental laws and regulations hold us liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances which may be on our properties. These laws could impose liability without regard to whether we are responsible for the presence or release of the hazardous materials. Government investigations and remediation actions may have substantial costs and the presence of hazardous substances on a property could result in personal injury or similar claims by private plaintiffs. Various laws also impose liability on a person who arranges for the disposal or treatment of hazardous or toxic substances and such person often must incur the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous substances at the disposal or treatment facility. These laws often impose liability whether or not the person arranging for the disposal ever owned or operated the disposal facility. As the owner of our properties, we may be deemed to have arranged for the disposal or treatment of hazardous or toxic substances.
Geographic Concentration
For a discussion of our geographic information, see Item 2, Properties — Geographic Diversification/Concentration Table, as well as Note 18, Segment Reporting and Note 19, Concentration of Credit Risk, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Employees; Human Capital Resources
We have no employees and our executive officers are all employees of one of our co-sponsors. Our day-to-day management is performed by our advisor and its affiliates. Our advisor is led by an experienced team of senior real estate professionals who have significant experience in underwriting and structuring healthcare real estate transactions and managing healthcare real estate and real estate-related investments. We benefit from our advisor’s infrastructure and operating platform, through which we are able to source, evaluate and manage potential investments. We do not directly compensate our executive officers for services rendered to us. However, our executive officers, consultants and the executive officers and key employees of our advisor and its affiliates are eligible for awards pursuant to the 2013 Incentive Plan, or our incentive plan. As of December 31, 2020, no awards had been granted to our executive officers, consultants or the executive officers or key employees of our advisor or its affiliates under this plan.
For our healthcare-related facilities operated pursuant to a RIDEA structure, we rely on each management company to attract and retain skilled personnel to provide services at our healthcare-related facilities. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, such management companies have put into place a number of health and safety measures to enable their employees to continue to work from our healthcare-related facilities, including the procurement and distribution of PPE and the implementation of daily employee and resident health screenings, vaccination clinics for employees and residents, as well as aggressive safety protocols in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and local health agency guidelines to limit the exposure and spread of COVID-19. While the health and safety measures instituted by each management company have allowed facilities to operate during the pandemic, these facilities may face challenges created by workforce shortages and absenteeism due to COVID-19.
Investment Company Act Considerations
We conduct, and intend to continue to conduct, our operations, and the operations of our operating partnership and any other subsidiaries, so that no such entity meets the definition of an “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act. We primarily engage in the business of investing in real estate assets; however, our portfolio does include, to a much lesser extent, other real estate-related investments. We have also acquired, and may continue to acquire, real estate assets through investments in joint venture entities, including joint venture entities in which we may not own a controlling interest. We anticipate that our assets generally will be held in wholly and majority-owned subsidiaries of the
company, each formed to hold a particular asset. We monitor our operations and our assets on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that neither we, nor any of our subsidiaries, meet the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act. Among other things, we monitor the proportion of our portfolio that is placed in investments in securities.
Information About Industry Segments
We segregate our operations into reporting segments in order to assess the performance of our business in the same way that management reviews our performance and makes operating decisions. As of December 31, 2020, we operated through six reportable business segments — medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing, senior housing — RIDEA and integrated senior health campuses.
Medical Office Buildings. As of December 31, 2020, we owned 63 medical office buildings, or MOBs. These properties typically contain physicians’ offices and examination rooms and may also include pharmacies, hospital ancillary service space and outpatient services such as diagnostic centers, rehabilitation clinics and day-surgery operating rooms. While these properties are similar to commercial office buildings, they require additional parking spaces as well as plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems to accommodate multiple exam rooms that may require sinks in every room and special equipment such as x-ray machines. In addition, MOBs are often built to accommodate higher structural loads for certain equipment and may contain other specialized construction. Our MOBs are typically multi-tenant properties leased to healthcare providers (hospitals and physician practices) for approximately three to 10 years with fixed annual escalations. Our MOBs segment accounted for approximately 6.3%, 6.6% and 7.1% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Hospitals. As of December 31, 2020, we owned two hospital buildings. Services provided by our operators and tenants in our hospitals are paid for by private sources, third-party payors (e.g., insurance and Health Maintenance Organizations), or through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. We expect that our hospital properties typically will include acute care, long-term acute care, specialty and rehabilitation hospitals and generally will be leased to single tenants or operators under triple-net lease structures. Our hospitals segment accounted for approximately 0.9%, 0.9% and 1.1% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Skilled Nursing Facilities. As of December 31, 2020, we owned seven skilled nursing facilities, or SNFs. Skilled nursing facility residents are generally higher acuity and need assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, and/or require assistance with medication and also require available 24-hour nursing care. SNFs offer restorative, rehabilitative and custodial nursing care for people not requiring the more extensive and sophisticated treatment available at hospitals. Ancillary revenues and revenues from sub-acute care services are derived from providing services to residents beyond room and board and include occupational, physical, speech, respiratory and intravenous therapy, wound care, oncology treatment, brain injury care, orthopedic therapy and other services. Certain SNFs provide some of the foregoing services on an out-patient basis. Skilled nursing services provided by our tenants in these SNFs are primarily paid for either by private sources or through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Our SNFs are leased to a single tenant under a triple-net lease structure with approximately 12 to 15 year terms and fixed annual rent escalations. Our SNFs segment accounted for approximately 1.3%, 1.1% and 1.3% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Senior Housing. As of December 31, 2020, we owned nine senior housing facilities. Senior housing facilities cater to different segments of the elderly population based upon their personal needs, and include assisted living, memory care, and independent living. Residents of assisted living facilities typically require limited medical care and need assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, and/or medication management and those services can be provided by staff at the facility. Resident programs offered at such facilities may include transportation, social activities and exercise and fitness programs. Services provided by our tenants in these facilities are primarily paid for by the residents directly or through private insurance and are less reliant on government reimbursement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Our senior housing facilities are leased to single tenants under triple-net lease structures, whereby the tenant is responsible for making rent payments, maintaining the properties and paying taxes and other expenses. Leases are typically 12 to 15 years with annual escalations and required lease coverage ratios. Our senior housing segment accounted for approximately 1.2%, 1.5% and 1.9% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Senior Housing — RIDEA. As of December 31, 2020, we owned and operated 20 senior housing facilities utilizing a RIDEA structure. Such facilities are of a similar property type as our senior housing segment discussed above; however, we have entered into agreements with healthcare operators to manage the facilities on our behalf utilizing a RIDEA structure. The healthcare operators we engage provide management and operational services at the facilities, and we retain the net earnings generated by the performance of each of the facilities after payment of the management fee and other operational and maintenance expenses. As a result, under a RIDEA structure we retain the upside from improved operational performance, and similarly the risk of any decline in performance. Substantially all of our leases with residents in the senior housing facilities are
for a term of one year or less. Our senior housing — RIDEA segment accounted for approximately 7.0%, 5.6% and 5.7% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Integrated Senior Health Campuses. As of December 31, 2020, we owned and/or operated 119 integrated senior health campuses, a majority of which are operated utilizing a RIDEA structure. Integrated senior health campuses include a range of senior care, including assisted living, memory care, independent living, skilled nursing services and certain ancillary businesses. Services provided in these facilities are primarily paid for by the residents directly or through private insurance and are less reliant on government reimbursement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Our integrated senior health campuses segment accounted for approximately 83.3%, 84.3% and 82.9% of total revenues and grant income for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
For a further discussion of our segment reporting for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, see Item 2, Properties, Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and Note 18, Segment Reporting, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risk Factor Summary
Our business, financial condition and results of operations are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face and should be read in conjunction with the full risk factors contained below in this “Risk Factors” section in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Investment Risks
•There is no public market for shares of our common stock, making it difficult for stockholders to sell their shares.
•Distributions paid using borrowings or other sources in anticipation of cash flows may negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment.
•The estimated value per share of our common stock may not accurately reflect the fair value of our assets and liabilities.
•The prior performance of other programs may not accurately predict our ability to achieve our investment objectives or our future results.
•Our success is dependent on our co-sponsors; however, our co-sponsors and their key personnel face conflicts of interest for their time and fiduciary duties.
•Our advisor may be entitled to receive significant compensation in the event of our liquidation or the termination of the Advisory Agreement.
•Even though we have formed a special committee to investigate strategic alternatives, we are not obligated to effectuate a liquidity event; therefore, our stockholders may have to hold their investment in shares of our common stock for an indefinite period of time.
Risks Related to Our Business
•In light of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations and cash flows, we suspended distribution payments to our stockholders and suspended our share repurchase plan, and there is no assurance as to when or if distributions to our stockholders or share repurchases will be authorized in the future.
•Certain campuses managed by Trilogy Management Services, LLC, or TMS, account for a significant portion of our revenues/operating income, and it may be difficult to replace TMS if our management agreements are terminated.
•Internalizing our management functions could cause us to incur significant costs.
•We may incur additional costs in re-leasing properties, which could adversely affect our cash flows.
Risks Related to Conflicts of Interest
•We may acquire assets from, or dispose of assets to, affiliates of our advisor, which could result in us entering into transactions on less favorable terms than we would receive from an unaffiliated third party.
•We have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint ventures which could cause conflicts of interest or disagreements with our joint venture partners.
Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure
•Several potential events, our ability to issue preferred stock, and the percentage limit on shares of common stock that any person may own could cause our stockholders’ investment in us to be diluted or prevent a sale of our common stock.
•Our stockholders’ ability to control our operations is severely limited.
•If we become subject to registration under the Investment Company Act, we may not be able to continue our business.
Risks Related to Investments in Real Estate
•Uncertain market conditions could lead our acquired real estate investments to decrease in value or may cause us to sell our properties at a loss in the future.
•A high concentration of our properties in a particular geographic area would magnify the effects of downturns in that geographic area.
•Our business, tenants, residents and operators may face litigation and experience rising liability and insurance costs, which may adversely affect our financial condition.
•Delays in the acquisition, development, disposition and construction of real properties may have adverse effects on our results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
•Our earnest money deposits made to certain development companies may not be fully refunded.
•Our stockholders may not receive any profits resulting from the sale of our properties, and representations made by us in connection with sales of our properties may subject us to liability.
•We face possible liability for environmental cleanup costs and damages for contamination related to properties we acquire.
•Our real estate investments may be too heavily concentrated in certain segments.
Risks Related to the Healthcare Industry
•Our tenants and operators are subject to regulation and oversight unique to the healthcare industry.
•Our tenants may be unable to make rent payments to us because of reductions in reimbursement from third-party payors and/or changes in the healthcare industry or regulations.
•Seniors delaying moving to senior housing facilities until they require greater care or forgoing moving to senior housing facilities altogether could have a material adverse effect on our business.
•Events that adversely affect the ability of seniors and their families to afford resident fees at our senior housing facilities could cause a decline in our occupancy rates, revenues and results of operations.
•Adverse trends in healthcare provider operations may negatively affect our lease revenues.
•We, our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses may be subject to various government reviews, audits and investigations that could adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Debt Financing
•To the extent we borrow at fixed rates or enter into fixed interest rate swaps, we will not benefit from reduced interest expense if interest rates decrease.
•Lenders may require us to enter into restrictive covenants relating to our operations, which could limit our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
•Interest-only indebtedness may increase our risk of default, adversely affect our ability to refinance or sell properties and eventually may reduce our funds available for distribution to our stockholders.
Risks Related to Real Estate-Related Investments
•Unfavorable real estate market conditions and delays in liquidating defaulted mortgage loan investments may negatively impact mortgage loans we have invested and may invest in.
•We expect a portion of our real estate-related investments to be illiquid and we may not be able to adjust our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions.
•If we liquidate prior to the maturity of our real estate-related investments, we may be forced to sell those investments on unfavorable terms or at a loss.
Federal Income Tax Risks
•Failure to maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes would subject us to federal income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates, which would substantially reduce our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
•Legislative or regulatory tax changes could adversely affect investors.
Investment Risks
There is no public market for the shares of our common stock. Therefore, it will be difficult for our stockholders to sell their shares of our common stock and, if our stockholders are able to sell their shares of our common stock, they will likely sell them at a substantial discount.
We commenced a best efforts initial public offering on February 26, 2014 and terminated the primary portion of our initial offering on March 12, 2015. However, there currently is no public market for the shares of our common stock. We do not expect a public market for our stock to develop prior to the listing of the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange, which we do not expect to occur in the near future and which may not occur at all. Additionally, our charter contains restrictions on the ownership and transfer of shares of our stock and these restrictions may inhibit our stockholders’ ability to sell their shares of our common stock. Our charter provides that no person may own more than 9.9% in value of our issued and outstanding shares of capital stock or more than 9.9% in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock. Any purported transfer of the shares of our common stock that would result in a violation of either of these limits will result in such shares being transferred to a trust for the benefit of a charitable beneficiary or such transfer being declared null and void. We have adopted a share repurchase plan, but it is limited in terms of the amount of shares of our common stock which may be repurchased annually, is subject to our board’s discretion and is currently suspended. On May 29, 2020, our board suspended our share repurchase plan with respect to all share repurchase requests received after May 31, 2020, including repurchases resulting from the death or qualifying disability of stockholders. Therefore, it will be difficult for our stockholders to sell their shares of our common stock promptly or at all. If our stockholders are able to sell their shares of our common stock, our stockholders may only be able to sell them to an unrelated third party at a substantial discount from the price they paid. This may be the result, in part, of the fact that, at the time we made our investments, the amount of funds available for investment were reduced by up to 12.0% of the gross offering proceeds, which amounts were used to pay selling commissions, a dealer manager fee and other organizational and offering expenses. We also were required to use gross offering proceeds to pay acquisition fees, acquisition expenses and asset management fees. Unless our aggregate investments increase in value to compensate for these fees and expenses, which may not occur, it is unlikely that our stockholders will be able to sell their shares of our common stock, whether pursuant to our share repurchase plan or otherwise, without incurring a substantial loss. We cannot assure our stockholders that their shares of our common stock will ever appreciate in value to equal the price our stockholders paid for their shares of our common stock. Therefore, shares of our common stock should be considered illiquid and a long-term investment and our stockholders must be prepared to hold their shares of our common stock for an indefinite length of time.
We have paid a portion of distributions from the net proceeds of our initial offering and borrowings, and in the future, may continue to pay distributions from borrowings or from other sources in anticipation of future cash flows. Any such distributions may reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in assets and may negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment.
We have used the net proceeds from our initial offering, borrowings and certain fees payable to our advisor which have been waived, and in the future, may use borrowed funds or other sources, to pay cash distributions to our stockholders, which may reduce the amount of proceeds available for investment and operations, cause us to incur additional interest expense as a result of borrowed funds or cause subsequent investors to experience dilution. Further, if the aggregate amount of cash distributed in any given year exceeds the amount of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess amount will be deemed a return of capital. Therefore, distributions payable to our stockholders may partially include a return of capital, rather than a return on capital, and we have paid a portion of our distributions from the net proceeds of our initial offering. We have not established any limit on the amount of net proceeds from our initial offering or borrowings that may be used to fund distributions, except that, in accordance with our organizational documents and Maryland law, we may not make distributions that would: (i) cause us to be unable to pay our debts as they become due in the usual course of business; or (ii) cause our total assets to be less than the sum of our total liabilities plus senior liquidation preferences. The actual amount and timing of distributions is determined by our board, in its sole discretion and typically depends on the amount of funds available for distribution, which depend on items such as our financial condition, current and projected capital expenditure requirements, tax considerations and annual distribution requirements needed to maintain our qualification as a REIT. As a result, our distribution rate and payment frequency have varied, and may continue to vary, from time to time.
Prior to March 31, 2020, our board authorized, on a quarterly basis, a daily distribution to our stockholders of record as of the close of business on each day of the quarterly periods commencing on May 14, 2014 and ending on March 31, 2020. The distributions were calculated based on 365 days in the calendar year and were equal to $0.001643836 per share of our common stock, which was equal to an annualized distribution rate of $0.60 per share. The daily distributions were aggregated and paid monthly in arrears in cash or shares of our common stock pursuant to our DRIP Offerings, only from legally available funds.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects to our business and operations, our board decided to take steps to protect our capital and maximize our liquidity in an effort to strengthen our long-term financial prospects. Consequently, on March 31, 2020, our board authorized a reduced daily distribution to our stockholders of record as of the close of business day on each day of the period commencing on April 1, 2020 and ending on May 31, 2020. The daily distributions were calculated based on 365 days in the calendar year and were equal to $0.000821918 per share of our common stock, which is equal to an annualized distribution rate of $0.30 per share, a decrease from the annualized distribution rate of $0.60 per share previously paid by us. These daily distributions were aggregated and paid in cash or shares of our common stock pursuant to our DRIP Offerings monthly in arrears, only from legally available funds. Furthermore in response to the continued uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact to our portfolio of investments, on May 29, 2020, our board authorized the suspension of all stockholder distributions upon the completion of the payment of distributions payable to stockholders of record on or prior to the close of business on May 31, 2020. Our board also approved the suspension of the Amended and Restated DRIP effective upon the completion of all shares issued pursuant to the Amended and Restated DRIP with respect to distributions payable to stockholders of record on or prior to the close of business on May 31, 2020 until such time, if any, as our board determines to authorize new distributions and to reinstate the Amended and Restated DRIP. See our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 4, 2020 for more information. For more information regarding the sources of our distributions for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, please see Part II, Item 5, Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities — Distributions.
The estimated value per share of our common stock may not be an accurate reflection of fair value of our assets and liabilities and likely will not represent the amount of net proceeds that would result if we were liquidated, dissolved or completed a merger or other sale of our company. Additionally, between valuations it may be difficult to accurately reflect material events that may impact our estimated per share NAV.
On March 18, 2021, our board, at the recommendation of the audit committee of our board, comprised solely of independent directors, unanimously approved and established an updated estimated per share NAV of our common stock of $8.55. We provided this updated estimated per share NAV to assist broker-dealers in connection with their obligations under Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, Rule 2231, with respect to customer account statements. The valuation was performed in accordance with the methodology provided in the Practice Guideline 2013-01, Valuations of Publicly Registered Non-Listed REITs, issued by the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives, or the IPA, in April 2013, in addition to guidance from the SEC.
The updated estimated per share NAV was determined after consultation with our advisor and an independent third-party valuation firm, the engagement of which was approved by the audit committee of our board. FINRA rules provide no guidance on the methodology an issuer must use to determine its estimated per share NAV. As with any valuation methodology, our independent valuation firm’s methodology was based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that may not have been accurate or complete. Different parties with different assumptions and estimates could derive a different estimated per share NAV, and these differences could be significant.
The updated estimated per share NAV was not audited or reviewed by our independent registered public accounting firm and did not represent the fair value of our assets or liabilities according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. In addition, the updated estimated per share NAV was an estimate as of a given point in time and the value of our shares will fluctuate over time as a result of, among other things, developments related to individual assets and changes in the real estate and capital markets. Accordingly, with respect to the updated estimated per share NAV, we can give no assurance that:
•a stockholder would be able to resell his or her shares at our updated estimated per share NAV;
•a stockholder would ultimately realize distributions per share equal to our updated estimated per share NAV upon liquidation of our assets and settlement of our liabilities or a sale of the company;
•our shares of common stock would trade at our updated estimated per share NAV on a national securities exchange;
•an independent third-party appraiser or other third-party valuation firm, other than the third-party valuation firm engaged by our board to assist in its determination of the updated estimated per share NAV, would agree with our estimated per share NAV; or
•the methodology used to estimate our updated per share NAV would be acceptable to FINRA or comply with reporting requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, the Code, other applicable law, or the applicable provisions of a retirement plan or individual retirement account, or IRA.
Further, our board is ultimately responsible for determining the estimated per share NAV. Our independent valuation firm calculates estimates of the value of our assets, and our board then determines the net value of assets and liabilities taking into consideration such estimate provided by the independent valuation firm. Since our board determines our estimated per share NAV at least annually, there may be changes in the value of our assets that are not fully reflected in the updated estimated per share NAV. As a result, the published estimated per share NAV may not fully reflect changes in value that may have occurred since the prior valuation. Furthermore, our advisor will monitor our portfolio, but it has been, and may continue to be, difficult to reflect changing market conditions or material events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that may impact the value of our portfolio between valuations, or to obtain timely or complete information regarding any such events. Therefore, the estimated per share NAV published before and during the announcement of an extraordinary event may differ significantly from our actual per share NAV until such time as sufficient information is available and analyzed, the financial impact is fully evaluated, and the appropriate adjustment is made to our estimated per share NAV, as determined by our board.
For a full description of the methodologies used to value our assets and liabilities in connection with the calculation of the updated estimated per share NAV, see our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on March 19, 2021.
We have experienced losses in the past and we may experience additional losses in the future.
Historically, we have experienced net losses (calculated in accordance with GAAP) and we may not be profitable or realize growth in the value of our investments. Many of our losses can be attributed to start-up costs, general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization, as well as acquisition expenses incurred in connection with purchasing properties or making other investments. For a further discussion of our operational history and the factors affecting our losses, see Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and our Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto.
The prior performance of other programs sponsored or co-sponsored by American Healthcare Investors and Griffin Capital may not be an accurate predictor of our ability to achieve our investment objectives or our future results.
We were formed in January 2013, did not engage in any material business operations prior to the effective date of our initial offering and acquired our first property in June 2014. As a result, an investment in shares of our common stock may entail more risks than the shares of common stock of a REIT with a more substantial operating history. In addition, our stockholders should not rely on the past performance of other American Healthcare Investors or Griffin Capital-sponsored or co-sponsored programs to predict our future results. Our stockholders should consider our prospects in light of the risks, uncertainties and difficulties frequently encountered by companies like ours that do not have a substantial operating history, many of which may be beyond our control. For example, due to challenging economic conditions in the past, distributions to stockholders of several private real estate programs sponsored by Griffin Capital were suspended. Therefore, to be successful in this market, we must, among other things:
•identify and acquire investments that further our investment strategy;
•attract, integrate, motivate and retain qualified personnel to manage our day-to-day operations;
•respond to competition both for investment opportunities and potential investors’ investment in us; and
•build and expand our operational structure to support our business.
We cannot guarantee that we will succeed in achieving these goals, and our failure to do so could adversely affect our results of operations and cause our stockholders to lose all or a portion of their investment and adversely affect our results of operations.
Our success is dependent on the performance of our co-sponsors. Our co-sponsors and certain of their key personnel will face competing demands relating to their time or fiduciary duties and this may cause our operating results to suffer.
Our ability to achieve our investment objectives and to conduct our operations is dependent upon the performance of our advisor in identifying and acquiring investments, the determination of any financing arrangements, the asset management of our investments and the management of our day-to-day activities. Our advisor is a joint venture between our two co-sponsors, in which American Healthcare Investors indirectly owns a 75.0% interest and Griffin Capital indirectly owns a 25.0% interest.
American Healthcare Investors and its key personnel serve as key personnel and co-sponsor of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, Inc., or GA Healthcare REIT IV, and may sponsor or co-sponsor additional real estate programs in the future. Griffin Capital and certain of its key personnel and its respective affiliates serve as key personnel, advisors, managers and sponsors or co-sponsors of 11 Griffin Capital-sponsored programs, including GA Healthcare REIT IV, Griffin Institutional Access Real Estate Fund and Griffin Institutional Access Credit Fund and may have other business interests as well. Because these persons have competing demands on their time and resources, they may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time between our business and these other activities. During times of intense activity in other programs and ventures, they may
devote less time and fewer resources to our business than is necessary or appropriate. If this occurs, the returns on our stockholders’ investment may suffer. Also, since these individuals owe fiduciary duties to these other entities and their owners, which fiduciary duties may conflict with the duties that they owe to our stockholders and us, their loyalties to these other entities could result in actions or inactions that are detrimental to our business, which could harm the implementation of our investment objectives. Accordingly, competing demands of such key personnel may cause us to be unable to successfully implement our investment objectives or generate cash needed to make distributions to our stockholders, and to maintain or increase the value of our assets.
In addition, our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our advisor’s officers and certain of the managing directors, officers and employees of American Healthcare Investors, in particular Jeffrey T. Hanson, Danny Prosky and Mathieu B. Streiff, each of whom would be difficult to replace. Messrs. Hanson, Prosky and Streiff currently serve as our executive officers and/or directors and Mr. Hanson also serves as Chairman of our board. We currently do not have an employment agreement with any of Messrs. Hanson, Prosky or Streiff. In the event that Messrs. Hanson, Prosky or Streiff are no longer affiliated with American Healthcare Investors, for any reason, it could have a material adverse effect on our success and American Healthcare Investors may not be able to attract and hire equally capable individuals to replace Messrs. Hanson, Prosky and/or Streiff. We do not have key man life insurance on any of our co-sponsors’ key personnel. If our advisor or American Healthcare Investors were to lose the benefit of the experience, efforts and abilities of one or more of these individuals, our operating results could suffer. Furthermore, our co-sponsors’ ability to manage our operations successfully is impacted by trends in the general economy, as well as the commercial real estate and credit markets, and since American Healthcare Investors is 47.1% owned by AHI Group Holdings and 45.1% indirectly owned by Colony Capital, our company may not realize the anticipated benefits of the relationship with Colony Capital. To the extent that any of these factors may cause a decline in our co-sponsors’ operating results or revenues, the performance of our co-sponsors and our advisor may be impacted and in turn, our results of operations and financial condition could also suffer.
Our advisor may be entitled to receive significant compensation in the event of our liquidation or in connection with a termination of the Advisory Agreement, even if such termination is the result of poor performance by our advisor or as a result of termination of the Advisory Agreement by our advisor.
We are externally advised by our advisor pursuant to the Advisory Agreement between us and our advisor, which has a one-year term that expires on February 26, 2022 and is subject to successive one-year renewals upon the mutual consent of us and our advisor. In the event of a partial or full liquidation of our assets, our advisor will be entitled to receive an incentive distribution equal to 15.0% of the remaining net proceeds of the liquidation, after distributions to our stockholders, in the aggregate, of a full return of capital raised from stockholders (less amounts paid to repurchase shares of our common stock) plus an annual 7.0% cumulative, non-compounded return on the gross proceeds from the shares of our common stock, as adjusted for distribution of net sale proceeds. In the event of a termination of the Advisory Agreement in connection with the listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange, the partnership agreement provides that our advisor will receive an incentive distribution in redemption of its limited partnership units equal to 15.0% of the amount, if any, by which (i) the market value of our outstanding common stock at listing plus distributions paid by us prior to the listing of the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange, exceeds (ii) the sum of the gross proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock (less amounts paid to repurchase shares of our common stock) plus the amount of cash equal to an annual 7.0% cumulative, non-compounded return on the gross proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock through the date of listing. Upon our advisor’s receipt of the incentive distribution in redemption of its limited partnership units, our advisor will not be entitled to receive any further incentive distributions upon sales of our properties. Further, in connection with the termination or non-renewal of the Advisory Agreement other than due to a listing of the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange, our advisor shall be entitled to receive a distribution in redemption of its limited partnership units equal to 15.0% of the amount, if any, by which (i) the appraised value of our assets on the termination date, less any indebtedness secured by such assets, plus total distributions paid through the termination date, exceeds (ii) the sum of the total amount of capital raised from stockholders (less amounts paid to repurchase shares of our common stock) and the total amount of cash equal to an annual 7.0% cumulative, non-compounded return to our stockholders on the gross proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock through the termination date. Such distribution upon termination of the Advisory Agreement is payable to our advisor even upon termination or non-renewal of the Advisory Agreement as a result of poor performance by our advisor or upon termination or non-renewal of the Advisory Agreement by our advisor. Upon our advisor’s receipt of this distribution in redemption of its limited partnership units, our advisor will not be entitled to receive any further incentive distributions upon sales of our properties. Any amounts to be paid to our advisor in connection with the termination of the Advisory Agreement cannot be determined at the present time, but such amounts, if paid, will reduce the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
If our advisor was to terminate the Advisory Agreement, we would need to find another advisor to provide us with day-to-day management services or have employees to provide these services directly to us. There can be no assurances that we would be able to find new advisors or employees or enter into agreements for such services on acceptable terms.
Even though we have formed a special committee to investigate strategic alternatives, we may not effect a liquidity event within any targeted time frame, or at all. If we do not effect a liquidity event, our stockholders may have to hold their investment in shares of our common stock for an indefinite period of time.
On a limited basis, our stockholders may be able to sell shares of our common stock to us through our share repurchase plan, if our share repurchase plan is reinstated by our board. However, we have formed a special committee to also consider various forms of strategic alternatives, including but not limited to, the sale of our assets, a listing of our shares on a national securities exchange, or a merger with another entity, including a merger with another unlisted entity that we expect would enhance our value. We are not obligated, through our charter or otherwise, to effectuate a transaction or liquidity event and may not effectuate a transaction or liquidity event within any time frame or at all. If we do not effectuate a transaction or liquidity event, it will be very difficult for our stockholders to have liquidity for their investment in the shares of our common stock other than limited liquidity through our share repurchase plan, if our share repurchase plan is reinstated by our board.
Our results of operations, our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders and our ability to dispose of our investments are subject to international, national and local economic factors we cannot control or predict.
Our results of operations are subject to the risks of an international or national economic slowdown or downturn and other changes in international, national and local economic conditions. The following factors may have affected, and may continue to affect, income from our properties, our ability to acquire and dispose of properties, and yields from our properties:
•poor economic times may result in defaults by tenants of our properties due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, or operational failures. We have provided an insignificant number of rent concessions, and may continue to provide rent concessions, tenant improvement expenditures or reduced rental rates to maintain or increase occupancy levels;
•fluctuations in property values as a result of increases or decreases in supply and demand, occupancies and rental rates may cause the properties that we own to decrease in value. Consequently, we may not be able to recover the carrying amount of our properties, which may require us to recognize an impairment charge or record a loss on sale in earnings;
•reduced values of our properties may limit our ability to dispose of assets at attractive prices or to obtain debt financing secured by our properties and may reduce the availability of unsecured loans;
•constricted access to credit may result in tenant defaults or non-renewals under leases;
•layoffs may lead to a lower demand for medical services and cause vacancies to increase and a lack of future population and job growth may make it difficult to maintain or increase occupancy levels;
•future disruptions in the financial markets, deterioration in economic conditions or a public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted, and may continue to result, in lower occupancy in our facilities, increased vacancy rates for commercial real estate due to generally lower demand for rentable space, as well as an oversupply of rentable space;
•governmental actions and initiatives, including risks associated with the impact of a prolonged government shutdown or budgetary reductions or impasses; and
•increased insurance premiums, real estate taxes or utilities or other expenses may reduce funds available for distribution or, to the extent such increases are passed through to tenants, may lead to tenant defaults. Also, any such increased expenses may make it difficult to increase rents to tenants on turnover, which may limit our ability to increase our returns.
The length and severity of any economic slowdown or downturn cannot be predicted with confidence at this time. Our results of operations, our ability to continue to pay distributions to our stockholders and our ability to dispose of our investments have been, and we expect may continue to be, negatively impacted to the extent an economic slowdown or downturn is prolonged or becomes more severe.
We face competition for the acquisition and disposition of MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities, which may impede our ability to take, and increase the cost of, such actions, which may reduce our profitability and cause our stockholders to experience a lower return on their investment.
We face significant competition from other entities engaged in real estate investment activities for acquisitions and dispositions of MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities, some of whom may have greater resources and lower costs of capital than we do. Increased competition makes it more challenging for us to identify and successfully capitalize on opportunities that meet our business goals and could improve the bargaining power of us and other property owners seeking to sell, thereby impeding our investment, acquisition and disposition activities. If we pay higher prices
per property or receive lower prices for dispositions of our MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing or other healthcare-related facilities as a result of such competition, our business, financial condition, results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders may be materially and adversely affected and our stockholders may experience a lower return on their investment.
Risks Related to Our Business
In light of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business operations, we have suspended distribution payments to our stockholders and suspended our share repurchase plan, and there is no assurance as to when we will commence the payment of distributions to our stockholders or reinstate our share repurchase plan, if at all.
In light of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business operations and cash flows, and the uncertainty as to the ultimate severity and duration of the outbreak and its effects, on March 31, 2020, our board reduced our monthly distributions to stockholders from an annualized rate of $0.60 per share to $0.30 per share of our common stock effective with the April 2020 distribution paid in May 2020 as well as partially suspended our share repurchase plan with respect to all repurchase requests other than repurchases resulting from the death or qualifying disability of stockholders. Additionally, on May 31, 2020, in an effort to further preserve capital and strengthen our financial position in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our board suspended the payment of all distributions to stockholders, the Amended and Restated DRIP and our share repurchase plan with respect to all repurchase requests. Our board will continue to evaluate the ongoing and future effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition, earnings, debt covenants and other possible needs for cash, and applicable law, in considering our ability to reinstate distributions and our share repurchase plan in the future. Our stockholders have no contractual or other legal right to distributions or share repurchases that have not been authorized by our board. There can be no assurance when or if distributions and share repurchases will be authorized in the future, and if authorized, whether distributions or share repurchases will be in amounts consistent with our historical levels of distributions and share repurchases. Should we fail for any reason to distribute at least 90.0% of our annual taxable income, excluding net capital gains, we would not qualify for the favorable tax treatment accorded to REITs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted, and will likely continue to adversely impact, our business and financial results, and the ultimate impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic.
In December 2019, COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China. This virus continues to spread globally including in the United States. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and related shelter-in-place, business re-opening and quarantine restrictions, our property values, net operating income, or NOI, and revenues may decline, and our tenants, operating partners and managers have been, and may continue to be, limited in their ability to generate income, service patients and residents and/or properly manage our properties. In addition, based on preliminary information available to management as of February 28, 2021, we have experienced an approximate 17.6% decline in resident occupancies since February 2020, as well as a significant increase in costs to care for residents, at our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses. Our leased, non-RIDEA senior housing and skilled nursing facility tenants have also experienced, and may continue to experience, similar pressures related to occupancy declines and expense increases, which may impact their ability to pay rent and have an adverse effect on our operations. Given the significant uncertainty of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to predict the impact it will have on such tenants’ continued ability to pay rent. As such, our immediate focus continues to be on resident occupancy recovery and operating expense management. While restrictions have been at least partially lifted in many states, there remains a risk of reclosures in states where infection rates continue to rise, which may put additional pressure on our operations. Additionally, the public perception of a risk of a pandemic or media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and related deaths or confirmed cases, or public perception of health risks linked to perceived regional healthcare safety in our senior housing or SNFs, particularly if focused on regions in which our properties are located, may adversely affect our business operations by reducing occupancy demand at our facilities. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has also adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, the ability of our medical office building tenants, many of whom have been restricted in their ability to work and to pay their rent as and when due. We have also held discussions with our tenants, operating partners and managers and they have expressed that the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business operations is uncertain.
Issues related to financing also are exacerbated in times of significant dislocation in the financial markets, such as those being experienced now related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is possible our lenders will become unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, and we may not be able to replace the debt financing of such lender on favorable terms, or at all. In addition, if the regulatory capital requirements imposed on our lenders change, they may be required to significantly increase the cost of the financing that they provide to us. As a result, our lenders may revise the terms of such financings to us, which could adversely impact our liquidity and our ability to make payments on our existing obligations.
Furthermore, we and our co-sponsors and their employees that provide services to us rely on processes and activities that largely depend on people and technology, including access to information technology systems as well as information, applications, payment systems and other services provided by third parties. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, business practices have been modified with all or a portion of our co-sponsors’ employees working remotely from their homes to have our operations uninterrupted as much as possible. Additionally, technology in such employees’ homes may not be as robust as in our co-sponsors’ offices and could cause the networks, information systems, applications and other tools available to such employees to be more limited or less reliable than in our co-sponsors’ offices. The continuation of these work-from-home measures may introduce increased cybersecurity risk. These cybersecurity risks include greater phishing, malware, and other cybersecurity attacks, vulnerability to disruptions of our information technology infrastructure and telecommunications systems for remote operations, increased risk of unauthorized dissemination of confidential information, greater risk of a security breach resulting in destruction or misuse of valuable information and potential impairment of our ability to perform certain functions, all of which could expose us to risks of data or financial loss, litigation and liability and could disrupt our operations and the operations of any impacted third-parties.
The information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is based on data currently available to us and will likely change as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our business will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic or treat its impact, among others. We expect the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the extent of its effect on our financial and operational results, to be dictated by, among other things, its duration, the success of efforts to contain it and the impact of actions taken in response, including the widespread availability and use of effective vaccines. For instance, government initiatives, such as the Payroll Protection Program and deferral of payroll tax payments program within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, enacted to provide substantial financial support to businesses could provide helpful mitigation for us and certain of our tenants, operating partners and managers. However, these government assistance programs are not expected to fully offset the negative financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there can be no assurance that these programs will continue or the extent to which they will be expanded. Therefore, the ultimate impact of such relief from these programs is not yet clear. Furthermore, we expect the trends discussed above with respect to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue. As such, we are continuously monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, residents, tenants, operating partners, managers, portfolio of investments and on the United States and global economies. While we are not able at this time to estimate the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial and operational results, it could be material.
We are uncertain of all of our sources of debt or equity for funding our capital needs. If we cannot obtain funding on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire, and make necessary capital improvements to, properties may be impaired or delayed.
We have not identified all of our sources of debt or equity for funding, and such sources of funding may not be available to us on favorable terms or at all. If we do not have access to sufficient funding in the future, we may not be able to acquire, and make necessary capital improvements to, properties, pay other expenses or expand our business.
We use mortgage indebtedness and other borrowings, which may increase our business risks, could hinder our ability to pay distributions and could decrease the value of our stockholders’ investment.
We have financed, and will continue to finance, all or a portion of the purchase price of our investments in real estate and real estate-related investments by borrowing funds. We anticipate that our overall leverage will approximate 45.0% of the combined fair market value of our real estate and real estate-related investments, as determined at the end of each calendar year. Under our charter, we have a limitation on borrowing that precludes us from borrowing in excess of 300% of our net assets without the approval of a majority of our independent directors. Net assets for purposes of this calculation are defined to be our total assets (other than intangibles), valued at cost prior to deducting depreciation, amortization, bad debt and other non-cash reserves, less total liabilities. Generally speaking, the preceding calculation is expected to approximate 75.0% of the aggregate cost of our real estate and real estate-related investments before depreciation, amortization, bad debt and other similar non-cash reserves. In addition, we may incur mortgage debt and pledge some or all of our real properties as security for that debt to obtain funds to acquire additional real properties or for working capital. Furthermore, we may borrow if we otherwise deem it necessary or advisable to ensure that we maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes.
High debt levels may cause us to incur higher interest charges, which would result in higher debt service payments and could be accompanied by restrictive covenants. If there is a shortfall between the cash flows from a property and the cash flows needed to service mortgage debt on that property, then the amount available for distributions to our stockholders may be reduced. In addition, incurring mortgage debt increases the risk of loss since defaults on indebtedness secured by a property may result in lenders initiating foreclosure actions. In that case, we could lose the property securing the loan that is in default, thus reducing the value of our stockholders’ investment. In addition, lenders may have recourse to assets other than those specifically securing the repayment of indebtedness. For tax purposes, a foreclosure on any of our properties will be treated as a
sale of the property for a purchase price equal to the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage. If the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage exceeds our tax basis in the property, we will recognize taxable income on foreclosure, but we would not receive any cash proceeds. We may give full or partial guarantees to lenders of mortgage debt to the entities that own our properties. When we give a guaranty on behalf of an entity that owns one of our properties, we will be responsible to the lender for satisfaction of the debt if it is not paid by such entity. If any mortgage contains cross-collateralization or cross-default provisions, a default on a single property could affect multiple properties. If any of our properties are foreclosed upon due to a default, our ability to pay cash distributions to our stockholders will be adversely affected.
We are dependent on tenants for our revenue, and lease terminations could reduce our distributions to our stockholders.
The successful performance of our real estate investments is materially dependent on the financial stability of our tenants. Lease payment defaults by tenants would cause us to lose the revenue associated with such leases and could cause us to reduce the amount of distributions to our stockholders. If a property is subject to a mortgage, a default by a significant tenant on its lease payments to us may result in a foreclosure on the property if we are unable to find an alternative source of revenue to meet mortgage payments. In the event of a tenant default, we may experience delays in enforcing our rights as landlord and may incur substantial costs in protecting our investment and re-leasing our property. Further, we cannot assure our stockholders that we will be able to re-lease the property for the rent previously received, if at all, or that lease terminations will not cause us to sell the property at a loss.
The integrated senior health campuses managed by TMS account for a significant portion of our revenues and/or operating income. Adverse developments in TMS’s business or financial condition could have a material adverse effect on us.
As of March 25, 2021, TMS managed all of the day-to-day operations for our integrated senior health campuses pursuant to long-term management agreements. These integrated senior health campuses represent a substantial portion of our portfolio, based on their gross book value, and account for a significant portion of our revenues and/or NOI. Although we have various rights as the owner of these integrated senior health campuses under our management agreements, we rely on TMS’s personnel, expertise, technical resources and information systems, proprietary information, good faith and judgment to manage our integrated senior health campuses operations efficiently and effectively, and to identify and manage development opportunities for new integrated senior health campuses. We also rely on TMS to provide accurate campus-level financial results for our integrated senior health campuses in a timely manner and to otherwise operate our integrated senior health campuses in compliance with the terms of our management agreements and all applicable laws and regulations. We depend on TMS’s ability to attract and retain skilled personnel to provide these services. A shortage of nurses or other trained personnel or general inflationary pressures may force TMS to enhance its pay and benefits package to compete effectively for such personnel, but it may not be able to offset these added costs by increasing the rates charged to residents. As such, any adverse developments in TMS’s business or financial condition, including its ability to retain key personnel, could impair its ability to manage our integrated senior health campuses efficiently and effectively and could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, if TMS experiences any significant financial, legal, accounting or regulatory difficulties due to a weak economy, industry downturn or otherwise, such difficulties could result in, among other adverse events, acceleration of its indebtedness, impairment of its continued access to capital, the enforcement of default remedies by its counterparties, or the commencement of insolvency proceedings by or against it under the United States Bankruptcy Code. Any one or a combination of these risks could have a material adverse effect on us.
We have rights to terminate our management agreements with TMS for our integrated senior health campuses under any circumstances; however, we may be unable to replace TMS in the event that our management agreements are terminated or not renewed.
We continually monitor and assess our contractual rights and remedies under our management agreements with TMS. When determining whether to pursue any existing or future rights or remedies under those agreements, including termination rights, we consider numerous factors, including legal, contractual, regulatory, business and other relevant considerations. In the event that we exercise our rights to terminate management agreements with TMS for any reason or such agreements are not renewed upon expiration of their terms, we would attempt to reposition the affected integrated senior health campuses with another manager. Although we believe that many qualified national and regional operators would be interested in managing our integrated senior health campuses, we cannot provide any assurance that we would be able to locate another suitable manager or, if we were successful in locating such a manager, that it would manage the integrated senior health campuses effectively or that any such transition would be completed timely. Any such transition would likely result in disruption of the operation of such facilities, including matters relating to staffing and reporting. Moreover, the transition to a replacement manager may require approval by the applicable regulatory authorities and, in most cases, one or more of our lenders including the mortgage lenders for the integrated senior health campuses, and we cannot provide any assurance that such approvals would be granted on a timely basis, if at all. Any inability to replace, or delay in replacing TMS as the manager of integrated senior health campuses could have a material adverse effect on us.
The financial deterioration, insolvency or bankruptcy of one or more of our major tenants, operators, borrowers, managers and other obligors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
A downturn in any of our tenants’, operators’, borrowers’, managers’ or other obligors’ businesses could ultimately lead to voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy or similar insolvency proceedings, including but not limited to assignment for the benefit of creditors, liquidation or winding-up. Bankruptcy and insolvency laws afford certain rights to a defaulting tenant, operator, borrower or manager that has filed for bankruptcy or reorganization that may render certain of our remedies unenforceable or, at the least, delay our ability to pursue such remedies and realize any related recoveries. A debtor has the right to assume, or to assume and assign to a third party, or to reject its executory contracts and unexpired leases in a bankruptcy proceeding. If a debtor were to reject its leases with us, obligations under such rejected leases would cease. The claim against the rejecting debtor would be an unsecured claim, which would be limited by the statutory cap set forth in the United States Bankruptcy Code. This statutory cap may be substantially less than the remaining rent actually owed under the lease. In addition, a debtor may also assert in bankruptcy proceedings that leases should be re-characterized as financing agreements, which could result in our being deemed a lender instead of a landlord. A lender’s rights and remedies, as compared to a landlord’s, generally are materially less favorable, and our rights as a lender may be subordinated to other creditors’ rights.
Furthermore, the automatic stay provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code would preclude us from enforcing our remedies unless we first obtain relief from the court having jurisdiction over the bankruptcy case. This would effectively limit or delay our ability to collect unpaid rent or interest payments, and we may ultimately not receive any payment at all. In addition, we would likely be required to fund certain expenses and obligations to preserve the value of our properties, avoid the imposition of liens on our properties or transition our properties to a new tenant, operator or manager. Additionally, we lease many of our properties to healthcare providers who provide long-term custodial care to the elderly. Evicting operators or managers for failure to pay rent while the property is occupied typically involves specific procedural or regulatory requirements and may not be successful. Even if eviction is possible, we may determine not to do so due to reputational or other risks. Bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings typically also result in increased costs to the operator or manager, significant management distraction and performance declines. If we are unable to transition affected properties, they would likely experience prolonged operational disruption, leading to lower occupancy rates and further depressed revenues. Publicity about the operator’s or manager’s financial condition and bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings may also negatively impact their and our reputations, decreasing customer demand and revenues. Any or all of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our revenues, results of operations and cash flows.
If we internalize our management functions, we could incur significant costs associated with being self-managed.
Our strategy may involve internalizing our management functions. If we internalize our management functions, we would no longer bear the costs of the various fees and expenses we pay to our advisor under the Advisory Agreement; however, our direct expenses would include general and administrative costs, including legal, accounting, and other expenses related to corporate governance, SEC reporting and compliance. We would also incur the compensation and benefits costs of our officers and other employees and consultants that are now paid by our advisor or its affiliates. In addition, we may issue equity awards to officers, employees and consultants, which awards would decrease net income and funds from operations, or FFO, and may further dilute our stockholders’ investment. We cannot reasonably estimate the amount of fees to our advisor we would save and the costs we would incur if we became self-managed. If the expenses we assume as a result of an internalization are higher than the expenses we no longer pay to our advisor, our net income per share and FFO per share may be lower as a result of the internalization than they otherwise would have been, potentially decreasing the amount of funds available to distribute to our stockholders.
As currently organized, we do not directly have any employees. If we elect to internalize our operations, we would employ personnel and would be subject to potential liabilities commonly faced by employers, such as worker’s disability and compensation claims, potential labor disputes and other employee-related liabilities and grievances. Upon any internalization of our advisor, certain key personnel of our advisor or American Healthcare Investors may not be employed by us, but instead may remain employees of our co-sponsors or their affiliates.
If we internalize our management functions, we could have difficulty integrating these functions as a stand-alone entity. Currently, our advisor and its affiliates perform asset management and general and administrative functions, including accounting and financial reporting, for multiple entities. They have a great deal of know-how and can experience economies of scale. We may fail to properly identify the appropriate mix of personnel and capital needs to operate as a stand-alone entity. An inability to manage an internalization transaction effectively could, therefore, result in our incurring additional costs and/or experiencing deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting. Such deficiencies could cause us to incur additional costs, and our management’s attention could be diverted from most effectively managing our properties.
We may incur additional costs in re-leasing properties, which could adversely affect the cash available for future distribution to our stockholders.
Some of the properties we have acquired and will seek to acquire are healthcare properties designed or built primarily for a particular tenant of a specific type of use known as a single-user facility. If we or our tenants terminate the leases for these properties or our tenants default on their lease obligations or lose their regulatory authority to operate such properties, we may not be able to locate suitable replacement tenants to lease the properties for their specialized uses. Alternatively, we may be required to spend substantial amounts to adapt the properties to other uses or incur other significant re-leasing costs. Any loss of revenues or additional capital expenditures required as a result may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay future distributions to our stockholders.
We may be unable to secure funds for future tenant or other capital improvements, which could limit our ability to attract, replace or retain tenants and decrease our stockholders’ return on investment.
When tenants do not renew their leases or otherwise vacate their space, it is common that, in order to attract replacement tenants, we have and will be required to expend substantial funds for tenant improvements and leasing commissions related to the vacated space. Such tenant improvements have required, and may continue to require, us to incur substantial capital expenditures. If we have not established capital reserves for such tenant or other capital improvements, we will have to obtain financing from other sources and we have not identified any sources for such financing. We may also have future financing needs for other capital improvements to refurbish or renovate our properties. If we need to secure financing sources for tenant improvements or other capital improvements in the future, but are unable to secure such financing or are unable to secure financing on terms we feel are acceptable, we may be unable to make tenant and other capital improvements or we may be required to defer such improvements. If this happens, it may cause one or more of our properties to suffer from a greater risk of obsolescence or a decline in value, or a greater risk of decreased cash flows as a result of fewer potential tenants being attracted to the property or our existing tenants not renewing their leases. If we do not have access to sufficient funding in the future, we may not be able to make necessary capital improvements to our properties, pay other expenses or pay distributions to our stockholders.
Our use of derivative financial instruments to hedge against foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations could expose us to risks that may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
We have used, and may continue to use, derivative financial instruments to hedge against foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, in which case we would be exposed to credit risk and legal enforceability risks. In this context, credit risk is the failure of the counterparty to perform under the terms of the derivative contract. If the fair value of a derivative contract is positive, the counterparty owes us, which creates credit risk for us. Legal enforceability risks encompass general contractual risks, including the risk that the counterparty will breach the terms of, or fail to perform its obligations under, the derivative contract. If we are unable to manage these risks effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to pay distributions to our stockholders will be adversely affected.
A breach of information technology systems on which we rely could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.
We and our operators rely on information technology systems, including the Internet and networks and systems maintained and controlled by third-party vendors and other third parties, to process, transmit and store information and to manage or support our business processes. Third-party vendors collect and hold personally identifiable information and other confidential information of our tenants, patients, stockholders and employees. We also maintain confidential financial and business information regarding us and persons and entities with which we do business on our information technology systems. While we and our operators take steps to protect the security of the information maintained in our information technology systems, including the use of commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmitting and storing of the information, it is possible that such security measures will not be able to prevent human error or the systems’ improper functioning, or the loss, misappropriation, disclosure or corruption of personally identifiable information or other confidential or sensitive information, including information about our tenants and employees. Cybersecurity breaches, including physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, phishing scams, attacks by hackers, breaches due to employee error or misconduct, and similar breaches, can create, and in some instances in the past resulted in, system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized access to information maintained on our information technology systems or the information technology systems of our third-party vendors or other third parties or otherwise cause disruption or negative impacts to occur to our business and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. While we and most of our operators maintain cyber risk insurance to provide some coverage for certain risks arising out of cybersecurity breaches, there is no assurance that such insurance would cover all or a significant portion of the costs or consequences associated with a cybersecurity breach. As our reliance on technology increases, so will the risks posed to our information systems, both internal
and those we outsource. In addition, as the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to information technology systems become more varied and sophisticated and the occurrence of such breaches becomes more frequent, we and our third-party vendors and other third parties may be unable to adequately anticipate these techniques or breaches and implement appropriate preventative measures. There is no guarantee that any processes, procedures and internal controls we have implemented or will implement will prevent cyber intrusions. Any failure to prevent cybersecurity breaches and maintain the proper function, security and availability of our or our third-party vendors’ and other third parties’ information technology systems could interrupt our operations, damage our reputation and brand, damage our competitive position, make it difficult for us to attract and retain tenants, and subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Conflicts of Interest
We are subject to conflicts of interest arising out of relationships among us, our officers, our co-sponsors, our advisor and its affiliates, including the material conflicts discussed below.
Our advisor faces conflicts of interest relating to its compensation structure, including the payment of acquisition fees and asset management fees, which could result in actions that are not necessarily in our stockholders’ long-term best interest.
Under the Advisory Agreement and pursuant to the subordinated participation interest our advisor holds in our operating partnership, our advisor will be entitled to fees and distributions that are structured in a manner intended to provide incentives to our advisor to perform in both our and our stockholders’ long-term best interests. The fees to which our advisor or its affiliates will be entitled include acquisition fees, asset management fees, property management fees, disposition fees and other fees as provided for under the Advisory Agreement and agreement of limited partnership of our operating partnership. The distributions our advisor may become entitled to receive would be payable upon distribution of net sales proceeds to our stockholders, the listing of the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange, certain merger transactions or the termination of the Advisory Agreement. However, because our advisor will be entitled to receive substantial minimum compensation regardless of our performance, our advisor’s interests may not be wholly aligned with our stockholders’ interests. In that regard, our advisor or its affiliates will receive an asset management fee with respect to the ongoing operation and management of properties based on the amount of our initial investment and capital expenditures and not the performance of those investments, which could result in our advisor not having adequate incentive to manage our portfolio to provide profitable operations during the period we hold our investments. On the other hand, our advisor could be motivated to recommend riskier or more speculative investments in order to increase the fees payable to our advisor or for us to generate the specified levels of performance or net sales proceeds that would entitle our advisor to fees or distributions. Furthermore, our advisor or its affiliates will receive an acquisition fee that is based on the contract purchase price of each property acquired or the origination or acquisition price of any real estate-related investment, rather than the performance of those investments. Therefore, our advisor or its affiliates may have an incentive to recommend investments more quickly or with a higher purchase price or investments that may not produce the maximum risk adjusted returns in order to receive such acquisition fees.
Our advisor may receive economic benefits from its status as a limited partner without bearing any of the investment risk.
Our advisor is a limited partner in our operating partnership. Our advisor is entitled to receive an incentive distribution equal to 15.0% of net sales proceeds of properties after we have received and paid to our stockholders a return of their invested capital and an annual 7.0% cumulative, non-compounded return on the gross proceeds of the sale of shares of our common stock. We bear all of the risk associated with the properties but, as a result of the incentive distributions to our advisor, we are not entitled to all of our operating partnership’s proceeds from property dispositions.
The distribution payable to our advisor may influence our decisions about listing the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange, merging our company with another company and acquisition or disposition of our investments.
Our advisor’s entitlement to fees upon the sale of our assets and to participate in net sales proceeds could result in our advisor recommending sales of our investments at the earliest possible time at which sales of investments would produce the level of return which would entitle our advisor to compensation relating to such sales, even if continued ownership of those investments might be in our stockholders’ long-term best interest. The subordinated participation interest may require our operating partnership to make a distribution to our advisor in redemption of its limited partnership units upon the listing of the shares of our common stock on a national securities exchange or the merger of our company with another company in which our stockholders receive shares that are traded on a national securities exchange if our advisor meets the performance thresholds included in our operating partnership’s limited partnership agreement, even if our advisor is no longer serving as our advisor. To avoid making this distribution, our independent directors may decide against listing the shares of our common stock or merging with another company even if, but for the requirement to make this distribution, such listing or merger would be in our
stockholders’ best interest. In addition, the requirement to pay these fees could cause our independent directors to make different investment or disposition decisions than they would otherwise make, in order to satisfy our obligation to our advisor.
We may acquire assets from, or dispose of assets to, affiliates of our advisor, which could result in us entering into transactions on less favorable terms than we would receive from a third party or that negatively affect the public’s perception of us.
We may acquire assets from affiliates of our advisor. Further, we may also dispose of assets to affiliates of our advisor. Affiliates of our advisor may make substantial profits in connection with such transactions and may owe fiduciary and/or other duties to the selling or purchasing entity in these transactions, and conflicts of interest between us and the selling or purchasing entities could exist in such transactions. Because our independent directors would rely on our advisor in identifying and evaluating any such transaction, these conflicts could result in transactions based on terms that are less favorable to us than we would receive from a third party. Also, the existence of conflicts, regardless of how they are resolved, might negatively affect the public’s perception of us.
We have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint ventures with other programs sponsored or advised by one of our co-sponsors or one of their affiliates, and we may face conflicts of interest or disagreements with our joint venture partners that may not be resolved as quickly or on terms as advantageous to us as would be the case if the joint venture had been negotiated at arm’s-length with an independent joint venture partner.
We have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint ventures with other programs sponsored or advised by one of our co-sponsors or one of their affiliates, as such we do and may face certain additional risks and potential conflicts of interest. For example, securities issued by other current or future American Healthcare Investors or Griffin Capital-sponsored programs may never have an active trading market. Therefore, if we were to become listed on a national securities exchange, we may no longer have similar goals and objectives with respect to the resale of properties in the future. Joint ventures between us and other current or future American Healthcare Investors or Griffin Capital-sponsored programs do not and will not have the benefit of arm’s-length negotiation of the type normally conducted between unrelated co-venturers. Under these joint venture agreements, none of the co-venturers may have the power to control the venture, and an impasse could occur regarding matters pertaining to the joint venture, including determining when and whether to buy or sell a particular property and the timing of a liquidation, which might have a negative impact on the joint venture and decrease returns to our stockholders.
Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure
Several potential events could cause our stockholders’ investment in us to be diluted, which may reduce the overall value of our stockholders’ investment.
Our stockholders’ investment in us could be diluted by a number of factors, including:
•future offerings of our securities, including issuances pursuant to the DRIP and up to 200,000,000 shares of any class or series of preferred stock that our board may authorize;
•private issuances of our securities to other investors, including institutional investors;
•issuances of our securities pursuant to our incentive plan; or
•redemptions of units of limited partnership interest in our operating partnership in exchange for shares of our common stock.
To the extent we issue additional equity interests, current stockholders’ percentage ownership interest in us will be diluted. In addition, depending upon the terms and pricing of any additional offerings and the value of our real estate and real estate-related investments, our stockholders may also experience dilution in the book value and fair market value of their shares of our common stock.
Our ability to issue preferred stock may include a preference in distributions superior to our common stock and also may deter or prevent a sale of shares of our common stock in which our stockholders could profit.
Our charter authorizes our board to issue up to 200,000,000 shares of preferred stock. Our board has the discretion to establish the preferences and rights, including a preference in distributions superior to our common stockholders, of any issued preferred stock. If we authorize and issue preferred stock with a distribution preference over our common stock, payment of any distribution preferences of outstanding preferred stock would reduce the amount of funds available for the payment of distributions on our common stock. Further, holders of preferred stock are normally entitled to receive a preference payment in the event we liquidate, dissolve or wind up before any payment is made to our common stockholders, likely reducing the
amount our common stockholders would otherwise receive upon such an occurrence. In addition, under certain circumstances, the issuance of preferred stock or a separate class or series of common stock may render more difficult or tend to discourage:
•a merger, tender offer or proxy contest;
•assumption of control by a holder of a large block of our securities; or
•removal of incumbent management.
The limit on the percentage of shares of our common stock that any person may own may discourage a takeover or business combination that may have benefited our stockholders.
Our charter restricts the direct or indirect ownership by one person or entity to no more than 9.9% of the value of shares of our then outstanding capital stock (which includes common stock and any preferred stock we may issue) and no more than 9.9% of the value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our then outstanding common stock. This restriction may discourage a change of control of us and may deter individuals or entities from making tender offers for shares of our stock on terms that might be financially attractive to our stockholders or which may cause a change in our management. This ownership restriction may also prohibit business combinations that would have otherwise been approved by our board and our stockholders. In addition to deterring potential transactions that may be favorable to our stockholders, these provisions may also decrease our stockholders’ ability to sell their shares of our common stock.
Our stockholders’ ability to control our operations is severely limited.
Our board determines our major strategies, including our strategies regarding investments, financing, growth, debt capitalization, REIT qualification and distributions. Our board may amend or revise these and other strategies without a vote of the stockholders. Our charter sets forth the stockholder voting rights required to be set forth therein under the Statement of Policy Regarding Real Estate Investment Trusts adopted by the North American Securities Administrators Association REIT Guidelines. Under our charter and Maryland law, our stockholders have a right to vote only on the following matters:
•the election or removal of directors;
•the amendment of our charter, except that our board may amend our charter without stockholder approval to change our name or the name of other designation or the par value of any class or series of our stock and the aggregate par value of our stock, increase or decrease the aggregate number of shares of stock or the number of shares of stock of any class or series that we have the authority to issue, or effect certain reverse stock splits;
•our dissolution; and
•certain mergers, consolidations, conversions, statutory share exchanges and sales or other dispositions of all or substantially all of our assets.
All other matters are subject to the discretion of our board.
Maryland law prohibits certain business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us to be acquired and may limit or delay our stockholders’ ability to dispose of their shares of our common stock.
Certain provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law, or the MGCL, such as the business combination statute and the control share acquisition statute, are designed to prevent, or have the effect of preventing, someone from acquiring control of us. The MGCL prohibits “business combinations” between a Maryland corporation and:
•any person who beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, 10.0% or more of the voting power of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock, which is referred to as an “interested stockholder”;
•an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was an interested stockholder; or
•an affiliate of an interested stockholder.
These prohibitions last for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder became an interested stockholder. Thereafter, any business combination with the interested stockholder or an affiliate of the interested stockholder must be recommended by the corporation’s board and approved by the affirmative vote of at least 80.0% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation, and two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of the corporation other than shares of voting stock held by the interested stockholder. These requirements could have the effect of inhibiting a change in control even if a change in control were in our stockholders’ best interests.
Pursuant to the MGCL, our bylaws exempt us from the control share acquisition statute, which eliminates voting rights for certain levels of shares that could exercise control over us, and our board has adopted a resolution providing that any business combination between us and any other person is exempted from the business combination statute, provided that such business combination is first approved by our board. However, if the bylaws provisions exempting us from the control share acquisition statute or our board resolution opting out of the business combination statute were repealed in whole or in part at any time, these provisions of the MGCL could delay or prevent offers to acquire us and increase the difficulty of consummating any such offers, even if such a transaction would be in our stockholders’ best interest.
The MGCL and our organizational documents limit our stockholders’ right to bring claims against our officers and directors.
The MGCL provides that a director will not have any liability as a director so long as he or she performs his or her duties in good faith, in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in our best interest, and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. In addition, our charter provides that, subject to the applicable limitations set forth therein or under the MGCL, no director or officer will be liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages. Our charter also provides that we will generally indemnify our directors, our officers, our advisor and its affiliates for losses they may incur by reason of their service in those capacities unless: (i) their act or omission was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and was committed in bad faith or was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty; (ii) they actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or (iii) in the case of any criminal proceeding, they had reasonable cause to believe the act or omission was unlawful. Moreover, we have entered into separate indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers and intend to enter into indemnification agreements with each of our future directors and executive officers. As a result, we and our stockholders may have more limited rights against these persons than might otherwise exist under common law. In addition, we may be obligated to fund the defense costs incurred by these persons in some cases. However, our charter also provides that we may not indemnify our directors, our advisor and its affiliates for any loss or liability suffered by them or hold them harmless for any loss or liability suffered by us unless they have determined that the course of conduct that caused the loss or liability was in our best interest, they were acting on our behalf or performing services for us, the liability was not the result of negligence or misconduct by our non-independent directors, our advisor and its affiliates or gross negligence or willful misconduct by our independent directors, and the indemnification is recoverable only out of our net assets or the proceeds of insurance and not from our stockholders.
Our stockholders’ investment return may be reduced if we are required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we become subject to registration under the Investment Company Act, we may not be able to continue our business.
We do not intend to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We monitor our operations and our assets on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that neither we, nor any of our subsidiaries, meet the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act. If we were obligated to register as an investment company, we would have to comply with a variety of substantive requirements under the Investment Company Act imposing, among other things: limitations on capital structure; restrictions on specified investments; prohibitions on transactions with affiliates; compliance with reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy disclosure and other rules and regulations that would significantly change our operations; and potentially, compliance with daily valuation requirements.
To maintain compliance with our Investment Company Act exemption, we may be unable to sell assets we would otherwise want to sell and may need to sell assets we would otherwise wish to retain. Similarly, we may have to acquire additional income- or loss-generating assets that we might not otherwise have acquired or may have to forgo opportunities to acquire interests in companies that we would otherwise want to acquire and would be important to our investment strategy. Accordingly, our board may not be able to change our investment policies as our board may deem appropriate if such change would cause us to meet the definition of an “investment company.” In addition, a change in the value of any of our assets could negatively affect our ability to avoid being required to register as an investment company. If we were required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, but failed to do so, we would be prohibited from engaging in our business, and criminal and civil actions could be brought against us. In addition, our contracts would be unenforceable unless a court were to require enforcement, and a court could appoint a receiver to take control of us and liquidate our business, which would reduce our stockholders’ investment return.
Risks Related to Investments in Real Estate
Uncertain market conditions relating to the future acquisition or disposition of properties could lead such acquired real estate investments to decrease in value or may cause us to sell our properties at a loss in the future.
Our advisor, subject to the oversight and approval of our board, may exercise its discretion as to whether and when to sell a property, and we will have no obligation to sell properties at any particular time. We cannot predict with any certainty the various market conditions affecting real estate investments that will exist at any particular time in the future. As such, we may be purchasing our properties at a time when capitalization rates are at historically low levels and purchase prices are high. In addition, we may be required to expend funds to correct defects or to make improvements before a property can be sold. We may not have adequate funds available to correct such defects or to make such improvements. Moreover, in acquiring a property, we may agree to restrictions that prohibit the sale of that property for a period of time or impose other restrictions, such as a limitation on the amount of debt that can be placed or repaid on that property. We cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing purchaser and to close the sale of a property. Therefore, the value of our properties may not increase over time, which may restrict our ability to sell our properties, or in the event we are able to sell such properties, may lead to sale prices less than the prices that we paid to purchase the properties. Additionally, we may incur prepayment penalties in the event we sell a property subject to a mortgage earlier than we otherwise had planned. Accordingly, the extent to which our stockholders will receive cash distributions and realize potential appreciation on our real estate investments will, among other things, be dependent upon fluctuating market conditions.
Uninsured losses relating to real estate and lender requirements to obtain insurance may reduce our stockholders’ returns.
There are types of losses relating to real estate, generally catastrophic in nature, such as losses due to wars, acts of terrorism, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, pollution, climate change or environmental matters, for which we do not intend to obtain insurance unless we are required to do so by mortgage lenders. If any of our properties incurs a casualty loss that is not fully covered by insurance, the value of our assets will be reduced by any such uninsured loss. In addition, other than any reserves we may establish, we have no source of funding to repair or reconstruct any uninsured damaged property, and we cannot assure our stockholders that any such sources of funding will be available to us for such purposes in the future. Also, to the extent we must pay unexpectedly large amounts for uninsured losses, we could suffer reduced earnings that would result in less cash to be distributed to our stockholders. In cases where we are required by mortgage lenders to obtain casualty loss insurance for catastrophic events, effects of climate change or terrorism, such insurance may not be available, or may not be available at a reasonable cost, which could inhibit our ability to finance or refinance our properties. Additionally, if we obtain such insurance, the costs associated with owning a property would increase and could have a material adverse effect on the net income from the property, and, thus, the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
A high concentration of our properties in a particular geographic area would magnify the effects of downturns in that geographic area.
We have a concentration of properties in particular geographic areas; therefore, any adverse situation that disproportionately effects one of those areas would have a magnified adverse effect on our portfolio. As of March 12, 2021, properties located in Indiana accounted for approximately 39.8% of our total property portfolio’s annualized base rent or annualized NOI. Accordingly, there is a geographic concentration of risk subject to fluctuations in such state’s economy.
Terrorist attacks, acts of violence or war, political protests and unrest or public health crises may affect the markets in which we operate and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Terrorist attacks, acts of violence or war, political protests and unrest or public health crises (including the COVID-19 pandemic) have negatively affected, and may continue to negatively affect, our operations and our stockholders’ investments. We have acquired, and may continue to acquire, real estate assets located in areas that are susceptible to terrorist attacks, acts of violence or war, political protests or public health crises. These events may directly impact the value of our assets through damage, destruction, loss or increased security costs. Although we may obtain terrorism insurance, we may not be able to obtain sufficient coverage to fund any losses we may incur. Risks associated with potential acts of terrorism could sharply increase the premiums we pay for coverage against property and casualty claims. Further, certain losses resulting from these types of events are uninsurable or not insurable at reasonable costs. More generally, any terrorist attack, other act of violence or war, political protest and unrest or public health crisis could result in increased volatility in, or damage to, the United States and worldwide financial markets and economy, all of which could adversely affect our tenants’ ability to pay rent on their leases or our ability to borrow money or issue capital stock at acceptable prices, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our business, tenants, residents and operators may face litigation and experience rising liability and insurance costs, which may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or cash flows.
We currently intend to pursue insurance recovery for any losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there can be no assurance that coverage will be available under our existing policies or if such coverage is available, which and how much of our losses will be covered and what other limitations may apply. Due to the likely increase in claims as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance companies may limit or stop offering coverage to companies like ours for pandemic related claims and/or significantly increase the cost of insurance so that it is no longer available at commercially reasonable rates.
With respect to our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses, we are ultimately responsible for operational risks and other liabilities of the facility, other than those arising out of certain actions by our operator, such as gross negligence or willful misconduct. As such, operational risks include, and our resulting revenues therefore depend on, the availability and cost of general and professional liability insurance coverage or increases in insurance policy deductibles. Furthermore, because we bear such operational risks and liabilities related to our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses, we may be directly adversely impacted by potential litigation related to the COVID-19 pandemic that have occurred or may occur at those facilities, and our insurance coverage may not cover or may not be sufficient to cover any potential losses.
Additionally, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of insurance for our tenants, operators and residents is expected to increase as well, and such insurance may not cover certain claims related to COVID-19, which could impair their ability to pay rent to us. Our exposure to COVID-19 related litigation risk may be further increased if our operators or residents of such facilities are subject to bankruptcy or insolvency. Combined with the factors above, these trends in insurance coverage may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or cash flows.
Delays in the acquisition, development and construction of real properties may have adverse effects on our results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Delays we encounter in the selection, acquisition and development of real properties could adversely affect our stockholders’ returns. Where properties are acquired prior to the start of construction or during the early stages of construction, it will typically take several months to complete construction and rent available space. If we engage in development or construction projects, we will be subject to uncertainties associated with re-zoning for development, environmental concerns of governmental entities and/or community groups, and our builder’s ability to build in conformity with plans, specifications, budgeted costs and timetables. If a builder fails to perform, we may resort to legal action to rescind the purchase or the construction contract or to compel performance. A builder’s performance may also be affected or delayed by conditions beyond the builder’s control. Therefore, our stockholders could suffer delays in the receipt of cash distributions attributable to those particular real properties. Delays in completion of construction could give tenants the right to terminate preconstruction leases for space at a newly developed project. We may incur additional risks if we make periodic progress payments or other advances to builders prior to completion of construction. These and other such factors can result in increased costs of a project or loss of our investment. In addition, we will be subject to normal lease-up risks relating to newly constructed projects. We also must rely on rental income and expense projections and estimates of the fair market value of property upon completion of construction when agreeing upon a price at the time we acquire the property. If our projections are inaccurate, we may pay too much for a property, and our return on our investment could suffer.
If we contract with a development company for newly developed property, our earnest money deposit made to the development company may not be fully refunded.
We may acquire one or more properties under development. We anticipate that if we do acquire properties that are under development, we will be obligated to pay a substantial earnest money deposit at the time of contracting to acquire such properties, and that we will be required to close the purchase of the property upon completion of the development of the property. We may enter into such a contract with the development company even if at the time we enter into the contract, we have not yet secured sufficient financing to enable us to close the purchase of such property. However, we may not be required to close a purchase from the development company, and may be entitled to a refund of our earnest money, in the following circumstances:
•the development company fails to develop the property;
•all or a specified portion of the pre-leased tenants fail to take possession under their leases for any reason; or
•we are unable to secure sufficient financing to pay the purchase price at closing.
The obligation of the development company to refund our earnest money deposit will be unsecured, and we may not be able to obtain a refund of such earnest money deposit from it under these circumstances since the development company may be an entity without substantial assets or operations.
Our stockholders may not receive any profits resulting from the sale of our properties, or receive such profits in a timely manner, because we may provide financing to the purchaser of such property.
When we decide to sell one of our properties, we may provide financing to the purchasers. When we provide financing to purchasers, we will bear the risk that the purchaser may default on its obligations under the financing, which could negatively impact cash flows from operations. Even in the absence of a purchaser default, the distribution of sale proceeds, or their reinvestment in other assets, will be delayed until the promissory notes or other property we may accept upon the sale are actually paid, sold, refinanced or otherwise disposed of. In some cases, we may receive initial down payments in cash and other property in the year of sale in an amount less than the selling price, and subsequent payments will be spread over a number of years. Therefore, our stockholders may experience a delay in the distribution to our stockholders of the proceeds of a sale until such time. Additionally, if any purchaser defaults under a financing arrangement with us, it could negatively impact our ability to pay cash distributions to our stockholders.
Representations and warranties made by us in connection with sales of our properties may subject us to liability that could result in losses and could harm our operating results and, therefore distributions we make to our stockholders.
When we sell a property, we have been required, and may continue to be required, to make representations and warranties regarding the property and other customary items. In the event of a breach of such representations or warranties, the purchaser of the property may have claims for damages against us, rights to indemnification from us or otherwise have remedies against us. In any such case, we may incur liabilities that could result in losses and could harm our operating results and, therefore distributions we make to our stockholders.
We face possible liability for environmental cleanup costs and damages for contamination related to properties we acquire, which could substantially increase our costs and reduce our liquidity and cash distributions to our stockholders.
Because we own and operate real estate, we are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws, ordinances and regulations. Under these laws, ordinances and regulations, a current or previous owner or operator of real estate may be liable for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances on, under or in such property. The costs of removal or remediation could be substantial. Such laws often impose liability whether or not the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. Environmental laws also may impose restrictions on the manner in which property may be used or businesses may be operated, and these restrictions may require substantial expenditures. Environmental laws provide for sanctions in the event of noncompliance and may be enforced by governmental agencies or, in certain circumstances, by private parties. Certain environmental laws and common law principles could be used to impose liability for release of and exposure to hazardous substances, including the release of asbestos-containing materials into the air, and third parties may seek recovery from owners or operators of real estate for personal injury or property damage associated with exposure to released hazardous substances. In addition, new or more stringent laws or stricter interpretations of existing laws could change the cost of compliance or liabilities and restrictions arising out of such laws. The cost of defending against these claims, complying with environmental regulatory requirements, conducting remediation of any contaminated property, or of paying personal injury claims could be substantial, which would reduce our liquidity and cash available for distribution to our stockholders. In addition, the presence of hazardous substances on a property or the failure to meet environmental regulatory requirements may materially impair our ability to use, lease or sell a property, or to use the property as collateral for borrowing.
Our real estate investments may be concentrated in MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing, integrated senior health campuses or other healthcare-related facilities, making us potentially more vulnerable economically than if our investments were diversified.
As a REIT, we invest primarily in real estate. Within the real estate industry, we have acquired, and may continue to acquire, or selectively develop and own MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing, integrated senior health campuses and other healthcare-related facilities. We are subject to risks inherent in concentrating investments in real estate. These risks resulting from a lack of diversification become even greater as a result of our business strategy to invest to a substantial degree in healthcare-related facilities.
A downturn in the commercial real estate industry generally could significantly adversely affect the value of our properties. A downturn in the healthcare industry could negatively affect our lessees’ ability to make lease payments to us and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders. These adverse effects could be more pronounced than if we diversified our investments outside of real estate or if our portfolio did not include a substantial concentration in MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities.
Certain of our properties may not have efficient alternative uses, so the loss of a tenant may cause us not to be able to find a replacement or cause us to spend considerable capital to adapt the property to an alternative use.
Some of the properties we have acquired and will seek to acquire are healthcare properties that may only be suitable for similar healthcare-related tenants. If we or our tenants terminate the leases for these properties or our tenants lose their regulatory authority to operate such properties, we may not be able to locate suitable replacement tenants to lease the properties for their specialized uses. Alternatively, we may be required to spend substantial amounts to adapt the properties to other uses. Any loss of revenues or additional capital expenditures required as a result may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
The decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The decision made in the British referendum of June 23, 2016 to leave the European Union, and the official withdrawal on January 31, 2020, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” has led to volatility in the financial markets of the United Kingdom, or UK, and more broadly across Europe and may also lead to weakening in consumer, corporate and financial confidence in such markets. The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, effective January 31, 2020, commenced an 11-month transitional period during which the UK continued to be subject to European Union rules while it established relationship guidelines and agreements with the European Union countries for the period after the transitional period ended on December 31, 2020. On December 24, 2020, the UK and European Union announced they had entered into a post-Brexit deal on certain aspects of trade and other strategic and political issues. We continue to evaluate our own risks and uncertainty related to Brexit and the financial, trade, regulatory and legal implications of this new post-Brexit trade deal on our UK operations; however, until the terms of this new post-Brexit trade deal become clearer, it is not possible to determine the impact that it and/or any related matters may have on us. Additionally, the decision of the UK to leave the European Union could also have a destabilizing effect if other European Union member states were to consider the option of leaving the European Union. For these reasons, the decision of the UK to leave the European Union could have adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As of December 31, 2020, we had $68,085,000 invested in the UK, or 2.2% of our portfolio, based on our aggregate contract purchase price of real estate investments.
Our current and future properties and our tenants may be unable to compete successfully, which could result in lower rent payments, reduce our cash flows from operations and amount available for distributions.
Our current and future properties often will face competition from nearby properties that provide comparable services. Some of those competing properties are owned by governmental agencies and supported by tax revenues, and others are owned by nonprofit corporations and may be supported to a large extent by endowments and charitable contributions. These types of support are not available to our properties.
Similarly, our tenants face competition from other medical practices in nearby hospitals and other medical facilities. Our tenants’ failure to compete successfully with these other practices could adversely affect their ability to make rental payments, which could adversely affect our rental revenues. Further, from time to time and for reasons beyond our control, referral sources, including physicians and managed care organizations, may change their lists of hospitals or physicians to which they refer patients or that are permitted to participate in the payor program. This could adversely affect our tenants’ ability to make rental payments, which could adversely affect our rental revenues.
Any reduction in rental revenues resulting from the inability of our properties and our tenants to compete successfully may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Ownership of property outside the United States may subject us to different or greater risks than those associated with our domestic operations.
We have operations in the Isle of Man and the UK. International development, ownership, and operating activities involve risks that are different from those we face with respect to our domestic properties and operations. For example, we have limited investing experience in international markets. If we are unable to successfully manage the risks associated with international expansion and operations, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Additionally, our ownership of properties in the Isle of Man and the UK currently subjects us to fluctuations in the exchange rates between United States dollars, or USD, and the UK Pound Sterling, which may, from time to time, impact our financial condition and results of operations. Revenues generated from any properties or other real estate-related investments we acquire or ventures we enter into relating to transactions involving assets located in markets outside the United States likely will be denominated in the local currency. Therefore, any investments we make outside the United States may subject us to foreign currency risk due to potential fluctuations in exchange rates between foreign currencies and the USD. As a result,
changes in exchange rates of any such foreign currency to USD may affect our revenues, operating margins and distributions and may also affect the book value of our assets and the amount of stockholders’ equity. In addition, changes in foreign currency exchange rates used to value a REIT’s foreign assets may be considered changes in the value of the REIT’s assets. These changes may adversely affect our status as a REIT. Further, bank accounts in a foreign currency which are not considered cash or cash equivalents may adversely affect our status as a REIT.
Risks Related to the Healthcare Industry
The healthcare industry is heavily regulated and new laws or regulations, changes to existing laws or regulations, loss of licensure or failure to obtain licensure could result in the inability of our tenants to make rent payments to us.
The healthcare industry is heavily regulated by federal, state and local governmental bodies. The tenants in our healthcare properties generally will be subject to laws and regulations covering, among other things, licensure, certification for participation in government programs, and relationships with physicians and other referral sources. Changes in these laws and regulations or our tenants’ failure to comply with these laws and regulations could negatively affect the ability of our tenants to make lease payments to us and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Many of our healthcare properties and their tenants may require a license or CON to operate. Failure to obtain a license or CON, or loss of a required license or CON, would prevent a facility from operating in the manner intended by the tenant. These events could materially adversely affect our tenants’ ability to make rent payments to us. State and local laws also may regulate expansion, including the addition of new beds or services or acquisition of medical equipment, and the construction of healthcare-related facilities, by requiring a CON or other similar approval. State CON laws and other similar laws are not uniform throughout the United States and are subject to change; therefore, this may adversely impact our tenants’ ability to provide services in different states. We cannot predict the impact of state CON laws or similar laws on our development of facilities or the operations of our tenants.
In addition, state CON laws often materially impact the ability of competitors to enter into the marketplace of our facilities. The repeal of CON laws could allow competitors to freely operate in previously closed markets. This could negatively affect our tenants’ abilities to make rent payments to us.
In limited circumstances, loss of state licensure or certification or closure of a facility could ultimately result in loss of authority to operate the facility or provide services at the facility and require new CON authorization licensure and/or authorization or potential authorization from CMS to re-institute operations. As a result, a portion of the value of the facility may be reduced, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Reductions in reimbursement from third-party payors, including Medicare and Medicaid, could adversely affect the profitability of our tenants and hinder their ability to make rental payments to us, and comprehensive healthcare reform legislation could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Sources of revenue for our tenants may include the federal Medicare program, state Medicaid programs, private insurance carriers and health maintenance organizations, among others. Efforts by such payors to reduce healthcare costs will likely continue, which may result in reductions or slower growth in reimbursement for certain services provided by some of our tenants. In addition, the healthcare billing rules and regulations are complex, and the failure of any of our tenants to comply with various laws and regulations could jeopardize their ability to continue participating in Medicare, Medicaid and other government sponsored payment programs. Moreover, the state and federal governmental healthcare programs are subject to reductions by state and federal legislative actions, and changes in reimbursement models may impact our tenants’ payments and create uncertainty in the tenants’ financial condition.
The healthcare industry continues to face various challenges, including increased government and private payor pressure on healthcare providers to control or reduce costs. It is possible that our tenants will continue to experience a shift in payor mix away from fee-for-service payors, resulting in an increase in the percentage of revenues attributable to reimbursement based upon value-based principles and quality driven managed care programs, and general industry trends that include pressures to control healthcare costs. Pressures to control healthcare costs and a shift away from traditional health insurance reimbursement based upon a fee for service payment to payment based upon quality outcomes have increased the uncertainty of payments.
In addition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or the Healthcare Reform Act, is intended to reduce the number of individuals in the United States without health insurance and effect significant other changes to the ways in which healthcare is organized, delivered and reimbursed. Included within the legislation is a limitation on physician-owned hospitals from expanding, unless the facility satisfies very narrow federal exceptions to this limitation. Therefore, if our tenants are physicians that own and refer to a hospital, the hospital would be limited in its operations and expansion potential, which may limit the hospital’s services and resulting revenues and may impact the owner’s ability to make rental payments.
Furthermore, the Healthcare Reform Act included new payment models with new shared savings programs and demonstration programs that include bundled payment models and payments contingent upon reporting on satisfaction of quality benchmarks. The new payment models will likely change how physicians are paid for services. These changes could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition of some of our tenants.
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law and repeals the individual mandate portion of the Healthcare Reform Act beginning in 2019. With the elimination of the individual mandate, several states brought suit seeking to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act. In response, several other states intervened in the suit, seeking to uphold the Healthcare Reform Act. The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument from all sides on the matter in late 2020. If all or a portion of the Healthcare Reform Act, including the individual mandate, is eventually ruled unconstitutional, our tenants may have more patients and residents who do not have insurance coverage, which may adversely impact the tenants’ collections and revenues. The financial impact on our tenants could restrict their ability to make rent payments to us, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to stockholders.
We cannot predict the ultimate content, timing or effect of any further healthcare reform legislation or the impact of potential legislation on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to stockholders. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare services, which may adversely impact our tenants’ ability to make rental payments to us.
The current trend for seniors to delay moving to senior housing facilities until they require greater care or to forgo moving to senior housing facilities altogether could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Seniors have been increasingly delaying their moves to senior housing facilities, including to our leased and managed senior housing facilities, until they require greater care, and increasingly forgoing moving to senior housing facilities altogether. The COVID-19 pandemic could cause seniors and their families to be reluctant to move into senior housing facilities during the pandemic. Further, rehabilitation therapy and other services are increasingly being provided to seniors on an outpatient basis or in seniors’ personal residences in response to market demand and government regulation, which may increase the trend for seniors to delay moving to senior housing facilities. Such delays may cause decreases in occupancy rates and increases in resident turnover rates at our senior housing facilities. Moreover, seniors may have greater care needs and require higher acuity services, which may increase our tenants’ and managers’ cost of business, expose our tenants and managers to additional liability or result in lost business and shorter stays at our leased and managed senior housing facilities if our tenants and managers are not able to provide the requisite care services or fail to adequately provide those services. These trends may negatively impact the occupancy rates, revenues, and cash flows at our leased and managed senior housing facilities and our results of operations. Further, if any of our tenants or managers are unable to offset lost revenues from these trends by providing and growing other revenue sources, such as new or increased service offerings to seniors, our senior housing facilities may be unprofitable and we may receive lower returns and rent, and the value of our senior housing facilities may decline.
Events that adversely affect the ability of seniors and their families to afford resident fees at our senior housing facilities could cause our occupancy rates, resident fee revenues and results of operations to decline.
Costs to seniors associated with independent and assisted living services are generally not reimbursable under government reimbursement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Only seniors with income or assets meeting or exceeding the comparable median in the regions where our facilities are located typically will be able to afford to pay the entrance fees and monthly resident fees, and a weak economy, depressed housing market or changes in demographics could adversely affect their continued ability to do so. If our tenants and operators are unable to retain and attract seniors with sufficient income, assets or other resources required to pay the fees associated with independent and assisted living services and other services provided by our tenants and operators at our healthcare facilities, our occupancy rates and resident fee revenues could decline, which could, in turn, materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition and our ability to make distributions to stockholders.
Some tenants of our current and future properties will be subject to fraud and abuse laws, the violation of which by a tenant may jeopardize the tenant’s ability to make rent payments to us.
There are various federal and state laws prohibiting fraudulent and abusive business practices by healthcare providers who participate in, receive payments from or are in a position to make referrals in connection with government-sponsored healthcare programs, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Our lease arrangements with certain current and future tenants may also be subject to these fraud and abuse laws. In order to support compliance with the fraud and abuse laws, our lease agreements may be required to satisfy individual state law requirements that vary from state to state, such as the Stark Law exception and the Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbor for lease arrangements, which impacts the terms and conditions that may be negotiated in the lease arrangements.
These federal laws include:
•the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, the offer, payment, solicitation or receipt of any form of remuneration in return for, or to induce, the referral of any item or service reimbursed by state or federal healthcare programs;
•the Federal Physician Self-Referral Prohibition, which, subject to specific exceptions, restricts physicians from making referrals for specifically designated health services for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs to an entity with which the physician, or an immediate family member, has a financial relationship;
•the False Claims Act, which prohibits any person from knowingly presenting false or fraudulent claims for payment to the federal government, including claims paid by the Medicare and Medicaid programs;
•the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which authorizes the United States Department of Health & Human Services to impose monetary penalties or exclusion from participating in state or federal healthcare programs for certain fraudulent acts;
•the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended, or HIPAA, Fraud Statute, which makes it a federal crime to defraud any health benefit plan, including private payors; and
•the Exclusions Law, which authorizes the United States Department of Health & Human Services to exclude someone from participating in state or federal healthcare programs for certain fraudulent acts.
Each of these laws includes criminal and/or civil penalties for violations that range from punitive sanctions, damage assessments, penalties, imprisonment, denial of Medicare and Medicaid payments and/or exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Monetary penalties associated with violations of these laws have been increased in recent years. Certain laws, such as the False Claims Act, allow for individuals to bring whistleblower actions on behalf of the government for violations thereof. Additionally, states in which the facilities are located may have similar fraud and abuse laws. Investigation by a federal or state governmental body for violation of fraud and abuse laws or imposition of any of these penalties upon one of our tenants could jeopardize that tenant’s ability to operate or to make rent payments, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
In late 2020, CMS and the United States Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General issued material revisions to rules and regulations relating to the federal Physician Self-Referral Prohibition and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. While these revisions were designed to modernize the regulatory scheme and advance the transition to value-based care, there is little published guidance and interpretation with respect to the new regulations, which may lead to uncertainty for our tenants in trying to comply with the various safe harbors and exceptions to these laws.
Adverse trends in healthcare provider operations may negatively affect our lease revenues and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
The healthcare industry is currently experiencing:
•changes in the demand for and methods of delivering healthcare services;
•changes in third-party reimbursement policies;
•significant unused capacity in certain areas, which has created substantial competition for patients among healthcare providers in those areas;
•increased expense for uninsured patients;
•increased competition among healthcare providers;
•increased liability insurance expense;
•continued pressure by private and governmental payors to reduce payments to providers of services;
•increased scrutiny of billing, referral and other practices by federal and state authorities;
•changes in federal and state healthcare program payment models;
•increased emphasis on compliance with privacy and security requirements related to personal health information; and
•increased instability in the Health Insurance Exchange market and lack of access to insurance plans participating in the exchange.
Additionally, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, many governmental entities relaxed certain licensure and other regulatory requirements relating to telemedicine, allowing more patients to virtually access care without having to visit a healthcare facility. If governmental and regulatory authorities continue to allow for increased virtual health care, this may affect the demand for some of our properties, such as MOBs.
These factors may adversely affect the economic performance of some or all of our tenants and, in turn, our lease revenues and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Operators/managers of healthcare properties that we own, or may acquire, may be affected by the financial deterioration, insolvency and/or bankruptcy of other significant operators/managers in the healthcare industry.
Certain companies in the healthcare industry, including some key senior housing operators/managers, are experiencing considerable financial, legal and/or regulatory difficulties which have resulted or may result in financial deterioration and, in some cases, insolvency and/or bankruptcy. The adverse effects on these companies could have a significant impact on the industry as a whole, including but not limited to negative public perception by investors, lenders and consumers. As a result, lessees of healthcare facilities that we own, or may acquire, could experience the damaging financial effects of a weakened industry sector driven by negative headlines, ultimately making them unable to meet their obligations to us, and our business could be adversely affected.
Our healthcare-related tenants may be subject to significant legal actions that could subject them to increased operating costs and substantial uninsured liabilities, which may affect their ability to pay their rent payments to us.
As is typical in the healthcare industry, our healthcare-related tenants may often become subject to claims that their services have resulted in patient injury or other adverse effects. Many of these tenants may have experienced an increasing trend in the frequency and severity of professional liability and general liability insurance claims and litigation asserted against them. The insurance coverage maintained by these tenants may not cover all claims made against them nor continue to be available at a reasonable cost, if at all. In some states, insurance coverage for the risk of punitive damages arising from professional liability and general liability claims and/or litigation may not, in certain cases, be available to these tenants due to state law prohibitions or limitations of availability. As a result, these types of tenants of our MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing and other healthcare-related facilities operating in these states may be liable for punitive damage awards that are either not covered or are in excess of their insurance policy limits. We also believe that there has been, and will continue to be, an increase in governmental investigations of certain healthcare providers, particularly in the area of Medicare/Medicaid false claims, as well as an increase in enforcement actions resulting from these investigations. Insurance may not always be available to cover such losses. Any adverse determination in a legal proceeding or governmental investigation, whether currently asserted or arising in the future, could have a material adverse effect on a tenant’s financial condition. If a tenant is unable to obtain or maintain insurance coverage, if judgments are obtained in excess of the insurance coverage, if a tenant is required to pay uninsured punitive damages, or if a tenant is subject to an uninsurable government enforcement action, the tenant could be exposed to substantial additional liabilities, which may affect the tenant’s ability to pay rent, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
We, our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses may be subject to various government reviews, audits and investigations that could adversely affect our business, including an obligation to refund amounts previously paid to us, potential criminal charges, the imposition of fines, and/or the loss of the right to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
We, our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses are subject to various governmental reviews, audits and investigations to verify compliance with the Medicaid and Medicare programs and applicable laws and regulations. We, our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses are also subject to audits under various government programs, including Recovery Audit Contractors, Zone Program Integrity Contractors and Unified Program Integrity Contractor programs, in which third-party firms engaged by CMS conduct extensive reviews of claims data and medical and other records to identify potential improper
payments under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Private pay sources also reserve the right to conduct audits. An adverse review, audit or investigation could result in:
•an obligation to refund amounts previously paid to us, our tenants or our operators pursuant to the Medicare or Medicaid programs or from private payors, in amounts that could be material to our business;
•state or federal agencies imposing fines, penalties and other sanctions on us, our tenants or our operators;
•loss of our right, our tenants’ right or our operators’ right to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs or one or more private payor networks;
•an increase in private litigation against us, our tenants or our operators; and
•damage to our reputation in various markets.
While we, our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses have always been subject to post-payment audits and reviews, more intensive “probe reviews” appear to be a permanent procedure with our fiscal intermediaries. If the government or a court were to conclude that such errors, deficiencies or disagreements constituted criminal violations, or were to conclude that such errors, deficiencies or disagreements resulted in the submission of false claims to federal healthcare programs, or if the government were to discover other problems in addition to the ones identified by the probe reviews that rose to actionable levels, we and certain of our officers, and our tenants and operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses and certain of their officers, might face potential criminal charges and/or civil claims, administrative sanctions and penalties for amounts that could be material to our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, we and/or some of the key personnel of our operating subsidiaries, or those of our tenants and operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses, could be temporarily or permanently excluded from future participation in state and federal healthcare reimbursement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. In any event, it is likely that a governmental investigation alone, regardless of its outcome, would divert material time, resources and attention from our management team and our staff, or those of our tenants and our operators for our skilled nursing, senior housing and integrated senior health campuses and could have a materially detrimental impact on our results of operations during and after any such investigation or proceedings.
In cases where claim and documentation review by any CMS contractor results in repeated poor performance, a facility can be subjected to protracted oversight. This oversight may include repeat education and re-probe, extended pre-payment review, referral to recovery audit or integrity contractors, or extrapolation of an error rate to other reimbursement outside of specifically reviewed claims. Sustained failure to demonstrate improvement towards meeting all claim filing and documentation requirements could ultimately lead to Medicare and Medicaid decertification, which could have a materially detrimental impact on our results of operations. Adverse actions by CMS may also cause third party payor or licensure authorities to audit our tenants. These additional audits could result in termination of third-party payor agreements or licensure of the facility, which would also adversely impact our operations.
In addition, our tenants and operators that accepted relief funds distributed to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 and reimburse providers for unreimbursed expenses and lost revenues may be subject to certain reporting and auditing obligations associated with the receipt of such relief funds. If these tenants or operators fail to comply with the terms and conditions associated with relief funds, they may be subject to government recovery and enforcement actions. Furthermore, regulatory guidance relating to use of the relief funds, recordkeeping requirements and other terms and conditions continues to evolve and there is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding many aspects of the relief funds. This uncertainty may create compliance challenges for tenants and operators who accepted relief funds.
The Healthcare Reform Law imposes additional requirements on skilled nursing facilities regarding compliance and disclosure.
The Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, or the Healthcare Reform Law, requires SNFs to have a compliance and ethics program that is effective in preventing and detecting criminal, civil and administrative violations and in promoting quality of care. The United States Department of Health and Human Services included in the final rule published on October 4, 2016 the requirement for operators to implement a compliance and ethics program as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid. Long-term care facilities, including skilled nursing facilities, had until November 28, 2019 to comply. If our operators fall short in their compliance and ethics programs and quality assurance and performance improvement programs, if and when required, their reputations and ability to attract residents could be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Debt Financing
Changes in banks’ inter-bank lending rate reporting practices or the method pursuant to which LIBOR is determined may adversely affect the value of the financial obligations to be held or issued by us that are linked to LIBOR.
London Interbank Offering Rate, or LIBOR, and other indices which are deemed “benchmarks” are the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. Some of these reforms are already effective while others are still to be implemented. These reforms may cause such “benchmarks” to perform differently than in the past, or have other consequences which cannot be predicted. It currently appears that, over time, United States dollar LIBOR may be replaced by the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. However, the manner and timing of this shift is currently unknown. Market participants are still considering how various types of financial instruments and securitization vehicles should react to a discontinuation of LIBOR. It is possible that not all of our assets and liabilities will transition away from LIBOR at the same time, or to the same alternative reference rate, in each case increasing the difficulty of hedging. The process of transition involves operational risks. It is also possible that no transition will occur for many financial instruments. At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect of any such changes, any establishment of alternative reference rates or any other reforms to LIBOR that may be implemented. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes, alternative reference rates or other reforms may adversely affect the market for or value of any securities on which the interest or dividend is determined by reference to LIBOR, loans, derivatives and other financial obligations or on our overall financial condition or results of operations. More generally, any of the above changes or any other consequential changes to LIBOR or any other “benchmark” as a result of international, national or other proposals for reform or other initiatives, or any further uncertainty in relation to the timing and manner of implementation of such changes, could have a material adverse effect on the value of financial assets and liabilities based on or linked to a “benchmark.”
Increases in interest rates could increase the amount of our debt payments, and therefore, negatively impact our operating results.
Interest we pay on our debt obligations will reduce cash available for distributions. Whenever we incur variable-rate debt, increases in interest rates would increase our interest costs, which would reduce our cash flows and our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders. If we need to repay existing debt during periods of rising interest rates, we could be required to liquidate one or more of our investments in properties at times which may not permit realization of the maximum return on such investments.
In addition, our variable-rate debt instruments use LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the interest rate. In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, that regulates LIBOR announced it intends to stop compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021. As a result, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York organized the Alternative Reference Rates Committee which identified SOFR as its preferred alternative to United States dollar LIBOR in derivatives and other financial contracts. We are not able to predict when LIBOR will cease to be available or when there will be sufficient liquidity in the SOFR markets. Any changes adopted by FCA or other governing bodies in the method used for determining LIBOR may result in a sudden or prolonged increase or decrease in reported LIBOR. In addition, uncertainty about the extent and manner of future changes may result in interest rates and/or payments that are higher or lower than if LIBOR were to remain available in its current form. The consequences of these developments are uncertain, but could include an increase in the cost of our variable-rate debt instruments. If LIBOR is no longer widely available, or otherwise at our option, we may need to renegotiate with our lenders that utilize LIBOR as a factor in determining the interest rate to replace LIBOR with the new standard that is established. As such, the potential phase-out of LIBOR may have a material adverse effect on the interest rates on our current and future borrowings.
To the extent we borrow at fixed rates or enter into fixed interest rate swaps, we will not benefit from reduced interest expense if interest rates decrease.
We are exposed to the effects of interest rate changes primarily as a result of borrowings we have used to maintain liquidity and fund expansion and refinancing of our real estate investment portfolio and operations. To limit the impact of interest rate changes on earnings, prepayment penalties and cash flows and to lower overall borrowing costs while taking into account variable interest rate risk, we have borrowed, and may continue to borrow, at fixed rates or variable rates depending upon prevailing market conditions. We have and may also continue to enter into derivative financial instruments such as interest rate swaps and caps in order to mitigate our interest rate risk on a related financial instrument. Therefore, to the extent we borrow at fixed rates or enter into fixed interest rate swaps, we will not benefit from reduced interest expense if interest rates decrease.
Hedging activity may expose us to risks.
We have used, and may continue to use, derivative financial instruments to hedge our exposure to changes in exchange rates and interest rates on loans secured by our assets. If we use derivative financial instruments to hedge against interest rate fluctuations, we will be exposed to credit risk and legal enforceability risks. In this context, credit risk is the failure of the counterparty to perform under the terms of the derivative contract. If the fair value of a derivative contract is positive, the counterparty owes us, which creates credit risk for us. Legal enforceability risks encompass general contractual risks, including the risk that the counterparty will breach the terms of, or fail to perform its obligations under, the derivative contract. These derivative instruments are speculative in nature and there is no guarantee that they will be effective. If we are unable to manage these risks effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to pay distributions to our stockholders will be adversely affected.
Lenders may require us to enter into restrictive covenants relating to our operations, which could limit our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
When providing financing, a lender may impose restrictions on us that affect our ability to incur additional debt and affect our distribution and operating strategies. We have entered into, and may continue to enter into, loan documents that contain covenants that limit our ability to further mortgage the property, discontinue insurance coverage, or replace our advisor. These or other limitations may adversely affect our flexibility and our ability to achieve our investment objectives.
Interest-only indebtedness may increase our risk of default, adversely affect our ability to refinance or sell properties and ultimately may reduce our funds available for distribution to our stockholders.
We may finance or refinance our properties using interest-only mortgage indebtedness. During the interest-only period, the amount of each scheduled payment will be less than that of a traditional amortizing mortgage loan. The principal balance of the mortgage loan will not be reduced (except in the case of prepayments) because there are no scheduled monthly payments of principal during this period. After the interest-only period, we will be required either to make scheduled payments of amortized principal and interest or to make a lump-sum or “balloon” payment at maturity. At the time such a balloon payment is due, we may or may not be able to refinance the balloon payment on terms as favorable as the original loan or sell the particular property at a price sufficient to make the balloon payment. Furthermore, these required principal or balloon payments will increase the amount of our scheduled payments and may increase our risk of default under the related mortgage loan. If the mortgage loan has an adjustable interest rate, the amount of our scheduled payments also may increase at a time of rising interest rates. In addition, payments of principal and interest made to service our debts, including balloon payments, may leave us with insufficient cash to pay the distributions that we are required to pay to maintain our qualification as a REIT. Any of these results would have a significant, negative impact on our stockholders’ investment.
If we are required to make payments under any “bad boy” carve-out guaranties that we may provide in connection with certain mortgages and related loans, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affected.
In obtaining certain nonrecourse loans, we have provided, and may continue to provide, standard carve-out guaranties. These guaranties are only applicable if and when the borrower directly, or indirectly through agreement with an affiliate, joint venture partner or other third party, voluntarily files a bankruptcy or similar liquidation or reorganization action or takes other actions that are fraudulent or improper (commonly referred to as “bad boy” guaranties). Although we believe that “bad boy” carve-out guaranties are not guaranties of payment in the event of foreclosure or other actions of the foreclosing lender that are beyond the borrower’s control, some lenders in the real estate industry have recently sought to make claims for payment under such guaranties. In the event such a claim was made against us under a “bad boy” carve-out guaranty following foreclosure on mortgages or related loan, and such claim was successful, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Real Estate-Related Investments
Unfavorable real estate market conditions and delays in liquidating defaulted mortgage loan investments may negatively impact mortgage loans we have invested and may invest in, which could result in losses to us.
The investment in mortgage loans or mortgage-backed securities we have, and may continue to, invest in involve special risks relating to the particular borrower or issuer of the mortgage-backed securities and we will be at risk of loss on those investments, including losses as a result of defaults on mortgage loans. These losses may be caused by many conditions beyond our control, including economic conditions affecting real estate values, tenant defaults and lease expirations, interest rate levels and the other economic and liability risks associated with real estate. If we acquire property by foreclosure following defaults under our mortgage loan investments, we will have the economic and liability risks as the owner described above. We do not know whether the values of the property securing any of our real estate-related investments will remain at the levels existing on the dates we initially make the related investment. If the values of the underlying properties drop, our risk will increase and the
values of our interests may decrease. Furthermore, if there are defaults under our mortgage loan investments, we may not be able to foreclose on or obtain a suitable remedy with respect to such investments. Specifically, we may not be able to repossess and sell the underlying properties quickly, which could reduce the value of our investment. For example, an action to foreclose on a property securing a mortgage loan is regulated by state statutes and rules and is subject to many of the delays and expenses of lawsuits if the defendant raises defenses or counterclaims. Additionally, in the event of default by a mortgagor, these restrictions, among other things, may impede our ability to foreclose on or sell the mortgaged property or to obtain proceeds sufficient to repay all amounts due to us on the mortgage loan.
The commercial mortgage-backed securities in which we have invested, and may continue to invest, are subject to several types of risks.
Commercial mortgage-backed securities are bonds which evidence interests in, or are secured by, a single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of commercial mortgage loans. Accordingly, the mortgage-backed securities in which we have invested, and may continue to invest, are subject to all the risks of the underlying mortgage loans.
In a rising interest rate environment, the value of commercial mortgage-backed securities may be adversely affected when payments on underlying mortgages do not occur as anticipated, resulting in the extension of the security’s effective maturity and the related increase in interest rate sensitivity of a longer-term instrument. The value of commercial mortgage-backed securities may also change due to shifts in the market’s perception of issuers and regulatory or tax changes adversely affecting the mortgage securities markets as a whole. In addition, commercial mortgage-backed securities are subject to the credit risk associated with the performance of the underlying mortgage properties.
Commercial mortgage-backed securities are also subject to several risks created through the securitization process. Subordinate commercial mortgage-backed securities are paid interest-only to the extent that there are funds available to make payments. To the extent the collateral pool includes a large percentage of delinquent loans, there is a risk that interest payments on subordinate commercial mortgage-backed securities will not be fully paid. Subordinate securities of commercial mortgage-backed securities are also subject to greater credit risk than those commercial mortgage-backed securities that are more highly rated.
The mezzanine loans in which we have invested, and may continue to invest, involve greater risks of loss than senior loans secured by income-producing real estate.
We have invested, and may continue to invest, in mezzanine loans that take the form of subordinated loans secured by second mortgages on the underlying real estate or loans secured by a pledge of the ownership interests of either the entity owning the real estate or the entity that owns the interest in the entity owning the real estate. These types of investments involve a higher degree of risk than long-term senior mortgage lending secured by income-producing real estate because the investment may become unsecured as a result of foreclosure by the senior lender. In the event of a bankruptcy of the entity providing the pledge of its ownership interests as security, we may not have full recourse to the assets of such entity, or the assets of the entity may not be sufficient to satisfy our mezzanine loan. If a borrower defaults on our mezzanine loan or debt senior to our loan, or in the event of a borrower bankruptcy, our mezzanine loan will be satisfied only after the senior debt. As a result, we may not recover some or all of our investment. In addition, mezzanine loans may have higher loan-to-value ratios than conventional mortgage loans, resulting in less equity in the real estate and increasing the risk of loss of principal.
We expect a portion of our real estate-related investments to be illiquid and we may not be able to adjust our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions.
We may acquire real estate-related investments in connection with privately negotiated transactions which are not registered under the relevant securities laws, resulting in a prohibition against their transfer, sale, pledge or other disposition except in a transaction that is exempt from the registration requirements of, or is otherwise in accordance with, those laws. As a result, our ability to vary our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions may be relatively limited. The mezzanine and bridge loans we may purchase will be particularly illiquid investments due to their short life, their unsuitability for securitization and the greater difficulty of recoupment in the event of a borrower’s default.
If we liquidate prior to the maturity of our real estate-related investments, we may be forced to sell those investments on unfavorable terms or at a loss.
Our board may choose to effect a liquidity event in which we liquidate our assets, including our real estate-related investments. If we liquidate those investments prior to their maturity, we may be forced to sell those investments on unfavorable terms or at a loss. For instance, if we are required to liquidate mortgage loans at a time when prevailing interest rates are higher than the interest rates of such mortgage loans, we would likely sell such loans at a discount to their stated principal values.
Risks Related to Joint Ventures
Property ownership through joint ventures could limit our control of those investments, restrict our ability to operate and finance the property on our term and reduce their expected return.
In connection with the purchase of real estate, we have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint ventures with third parties, including affiliates of our advisor. We may also purchase or develop properties in co-ownership arrangements with the sellers of the properties, developers or other persons. We own operating properties through both consolidated and unconsolidated joint ventures. These structures involve participation in the investment by other parties whose interests and rights may not be the same as ours. Our joint ventures, and joint ventures we may enter into in the future, may involve risks not present with respect to our wholly owned properties, including the following:
•we may share decision-making authority with our joint venture partners regarding certain major decisions affecting the ownership or operation of the joint venture and the joint venture property, such as, but not limited to, (i) additional capital contribution requirements, (ii) obtaining, refinancing or paying off debt and (iii) obtaining consent prior to the sale or transfer of our interest in the joint venture to a third party, which may prevent us from taking actions that are opposed by our joint venture partners;
•our joint venture partners might become bankrupt and such proceedings could have an adverse impact on the operation of the partnership or joint venture;
•our joint venture partners may have business interests or goals with respect to the property that conflict with our business interests and goals, which could increase the likelihood of disputes regarding the ownership, management or disposition of the property;
•disputes may develop with our joint venture partners over decisions affecting the property or the joint venture, which may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and distract our officers from focusing their time and effort on our business, disrupt the day-to-day operations of the property such as by delaying the implementation of important decisions until the conflict is resolved, and possibly force a sale of the property if the dispute cannot be resolved; and
•the activities of a joint venture could adversely affect our ability to maintain our qualification as a REIT.
We may structure our joint venture relationships in a manner which may limit the amount we participate in the cash flows or appreciation of an investment.
We have entered, and may continue to enter, into joint venture agreements, the economic terms of which may provide for the distribution of income to us otherwise than in direct proportion to our ownership interest in the joint venture. For example, while we and a co-venturer may invest an equal amount of capital in an investment, the investment may be structured such that we have a right to priority distributions of cash flows up to a certain target return while the co-venturer may receive a disproportionately greater share of cash flows than we are to receive once such target return has been achieved. This type of investment structure may result in the co-venturer receiving more of the cash flows, including appreciation, of an investment than we would receive. If we do not accurately judge the appreciation prospects of a particular investment or structure the venture appropriately, we may incur losses on joint venture investments or have limited participation in the profits of a joint venture investment, either of which could reduce our ability to pay cash distributions to our stockholders.
Federal Income Tax Risks
Failure to maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes would subject us to federal income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates, which would substantially reduce our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
We qualified and elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Code beginning with our taxable year ended December 31, 2014. To continue to maintain our qualification as a REIT, we must meet various requirements set forth in the Code concerning, among other things, the ownership of our outstanding common stock, the nature of our assets, the sources of our income and the amount of our distributions to our stockholders. The REIT qualification requirements are extremely complex, and interpretations of the federal income tax laws governing qualification as a REIT are limited. Accordingly, we cannot be certain that we will be successful in operating so as to maintain our qualification as a REIT. At any time, new laws, interpretations or court decisions may change the federal tax laws relating to, or the federal income tax consequences of, qualification as a REIT. It is possible that future economic, market, legal, tax or other considerations may cause our board to determine that it is not in our best interest to maintain our qualification as a REIT, and to revoke our REIT election, which it may do without stockholder approval.
If we fail to maintain our qualification as a REIT for any taxable year, we will be subject to federal income tax on our taxable income at corporate rates. In addition, we would generally be disqualified from treatment as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year of losing our REIT status unless the IRS grants us relief under certain statutory provisions. Losing our REIT status would reduce our net earnings available for investment or distribution to our stockholders because of the additional tax liability. In addition, distributions would no longer qualify for the distributions paid deduction, and we would no longer be required to pay distributions. If this occurs, we might be required to borrow funds or liquidate some investments in order to pay the applicable tax.
As a result of all these factors, our failure to maintain our qualification as a REIT could impair our ability to expand our business and raise capital, and would substantially reduce our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
Our stockholders may have a current tax liability on distributions they elected to reinvest in shares of our common stock.
If our stockholders participated in our DRIP Offerings, they will be deemed to have received, and for United States federal income tax purposes will be taxed on, the amount reinvested in shares of our common stock to the extent the amount reinvested was not a tax-free return of capital. In addition, our stockholders may be treated, for United States federal tax purposes, as having received an additional distribution to the extent the shares are purchased at a discount from fair market value. As a result, unless our stockholders are a tax-exempt entity, our stockholders may have to use funds from other sources to pay their tax liability on the value of the shares of common stock received.
We may be subject to adverse legislative or regulatory tax changes that could increase our tax liability or reduce our operating flexibility.
In recent years, numerous legislative, judicial and administrative changes have been made in the provisions of federal and state income tax laws applicable to investments similar to an investment in shares of our common stock. Additional changes to the tax laws are likely to continue to occur, and we cannot assure our stockholders that any such changes will not adversely affect our taxation and our ability to continue to qualify as a REIT or the taxation of a stockholder. Any such changes could have an adverse effect on an investment in shares of our common stock or on the market value or the resale potential of our assets. Our stockholders are urged to consult with their tax advisor with respect to the impact of recent legislation on their investment in our stock and the status of legislative, regulatory or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in shares of our common stock.
Although REITs generally receive better tax treatment than entities taxed as regular corporations, it is possible that future legislation would result in a REIT having fewer tax advantages, and it could become more advantageous for a company that invests in real estate to elect to be treated for United States federal income tax purposes as a regular corporation. As a result, our charter provides our board with the power, under certain circumstances, to revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election and cause us to be taxed as a regular corporation, without the vote of our stockholders. Our board has fiduciary duties to us and our stockholders and could only cause such changes in our tax treatment if it determines in good faith that such changes are in the best interests of our stockholders.
In addition, on December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made significant changes to the United States federal income tax rules for taxation of individuals and businesses, generally effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. In addition to reducing corporate and individual tax rates, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates or restricts various deductions. Most of the changes applicable to individuals are temporary and apply only to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made numerous large and small changes to the tax rules that do not affect the REIT qualification rules directly but may otherwise affect us or our stockholders. While the changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act generally appear to be favorable with respect to REITs, the extensive changes to non-REIT provisions in the Code may have unanticipated effects on us or our stockholders. We urge stockholders to consult with their own tax advisor with respect to the status of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and other legislative, regulatory or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in shares of our common stock.
In certain circumstances, we may be subject to federal and state income taxes even if we maintain our qualification as a REIT, which would reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
Even if we maintain our qualification as a REIT, we may be subject to federal income taxes or state taxes. For example, net income from a “prohibited transaction” will be subject to a 100% tax. We may not be able to make sufficient distributions to avoid excise taxes applicable to REITs. We may also decide to retain capital gains we earn from the sale or other disposition of our property and pay income tax directly on such income. In that event, our stockholders would be treated as if they earned that income and paid the tax on it directly. However, our stockholders that are tax-exempt, such as charities or qualified pension plans, would have no benefit from their deemed payment of such tax liability. We may also be subject to state and local taxes
on our income or property, either directly or at the level of the companies through which we indirectly own our assets. Any federal or state taxes we pay will reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
Dividends payable by REITs generally do not qualify for the reduced tax rates on dividend income as compared to regular corporations, which could adversely affect the value of our shares.
The maximum United States federal income tax rate for certain qualified dividends payable to domestic stockholders that are individuals, trusts and estates generally is 20%. Dividends payable by REITs, however, are generally not eligible for these reduced rates for qualified dividends. For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permits a deduction for certain pass-through business income, including “qualified REIT dividends” (generally, dividends received by a REIT stockholder that are not designated as capital gain dividends or qualified dividend income), which allows United States individuals, trusts, and estates to deduct up to 20% of such amounts, subject to certain limitations, resulting in an effective maximum United States federal income tax rate of 29.6% on such qualified REIT dividends. Although the reduced United States federal income tax rate applicable to dividend income from regular corporate dividends does not adversely affect the taxation of REITs or dividends paid by REITs, the more favorable rates applicable to qualified dividends from C corporations could cause investors who are individuals, trusts and estates to perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in the stocks of non-REIT corporations that pay dividends, which could adversely affect the value of the shares of REITs, including our shares.
Dividends on, and gains recognized on the sale of, shares by a tax-exempt stockholder may be subject to United States federal income tax as unrelated business taxable income.
If (i) we are a “pension-held REIT,” (ii) a tax-exempt stockholder has incurred (or is deemed to have incurred) debt to purchase or hold our shares or (iii) a holder of shares is a certain type of tax-exempt stockholder, dividends on, and gains recognized on the sale of, shares by such tax-exempt stockholder may be subject to United States federal income tax as unrelated business taxable income under the Code.
Characterization of our sale-leaseback transactions may be challenged.
We have participated, and may continue to participate, in sale-leaseback transactions in which we purchase real estate investments and lease them back to the sellers of such properties. Our advisor will use its best efforts to structure any of our sale-leaseback transactions such that the lease will be characterized as a “true lease” and so that we will be treated as the owner of the property for federal income tax purposes. However, we cannot assure our stockholders that the IRS will not challenge such characterization. In the event that any such sale-leaseback transaction is re-characterized as a financing transaction for federal income tax purposes, deductions for depreciation and cost recovery relating to such real estate investment would be disallowed or significantly reduced. If a sale-leaseback transaction is so re-characterized, we might fail to satisfy the REIT asset tests or income tests and, consequently, lose our REIT status.
Complying with the REIT requirements may cause us to forego otherwise attractive opportunities.
To maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets, the amounts we distribute to our stockholders and the ownership of shares of our common stock. We may be required to pay distributions to our stockholders at disadvantageous times or when we do not have funds readily available for distribution, or we may be required to liquidate otherwise attractive investments in order to comply with the REIT tests. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our ability to operate solely on the basis of maximizing profits.
If our operating partnership fails to maintain its status as a disregarded entity or as a partnership, its income may be subject to taxation, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to stockholders and likely result in a loss of our REIT status.
We intend to maintain the status of the operating partnership as a disregarded entity or as a partnership for United States federal income tax purposes. However, if the IRS were to successfully challenge the status of the operating partnership as a disregarded entity or as a partnership for such purposes, it would be taxable as a corporation. In such event, this would reduce the amount of distributions that the operating partnership could make to us. This would also likely result in our losing REIT status, and, if so, becoming subject to a corporate level tax on our own income. This would substantially reduce any cash available to pay distributions. In addition, if any of the partnerships or limited liability companies through which the operating partnership owns its properties, in whole or in part, loses its characterization as a partnership and is otherwise not disregarded for United States federal income tax purposes, it would be subject to taxation as a corporation, thereby reducing distributions to the operating partnership. Such a recharacterization of an underlying property owner could also threaten our ability to maintain our status as a REIT.
Foreign purchasers of shares of our common stock may be subject to FIRPTA tax upon the sale of their shares of our common stock or upon the payment of a capital gains dividend.
A foreign person disposing of a United States real property interest, including shares of stock of a United States corporation whose assets consist principally of United States real property interests, is generally subject to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980, as amended, or FIRPTA, on the amount received from the disposition. However, foreign pension plans and certain foreign publicly traded entities are exempt from FIRPTA withholding. Further, such FIRPTA tax does not apply to the disposition of stock in a REIT if the REIT is “domestically controlled.” A REIT is “domestically controlled” if less than 50.0% of the REIT’s stock, by value, has been owned directly or indirectly by persons who are not qualifying United States persons during a continuous five-year period ending on the date of disposition or, if shorter, during the entire period of the REIT’s existence. We cannot assure our stockholders that we will qualify as a “domestically controlled” REIT. If we were to fail to so qualify, amounts received by foreign investors on a sale of shares of our common stock would be subject to FIRPTA tax, unless the shares of our common stock were traded on an established securities market and the foreign investor did not at any time during a specified period directly or indirectly own more than 10.0% of the value of our outstanding common stock. Additionally, a foreign stockholder will likely be subject to FIRPTA upon the payment of any capital gain dividends by us if such gain is attributable to gain from sales or exchanges of United States real property interests. However, these rules do not apply to foreign pension plans and certain publicly traded entities.
Employee Benefit Plan, IRA, and Other Tax-Exempt Investor Risks
We, and our stockholders that are employee benefit plans, IRAs, annuities described in Sections 403(a) or (b) of the Code, Archer Medical Savings Accounts, health savings accounts, Coverdell education savings accounts, and other arrangements that are subject to ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code (referred to generally as “Benefit Plans and IRAs”) will be subject to risks relating specifically to our having such Benefit Plan and IRA stockholders, which risks are discussed below.
If a stockholder that is a Benefit Plan or IRA fails to meet the fiduciary and other standards under ERISA or the Code as a result of an investment in shares of our common stock, such stockholder could be subject to civil and criminal, if the failure is willful, penalties.
There are special considerations that apply to Benefit Plans and IRAs investing in shares of our common stock. Stockholders that are Benefit Plans and IRAs should consider whether, among other things:
•their investment is consistent with their fiduciary obligations under ERISA and the Code;
•their investment is made in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the Benefit Plan or IRA, including any investment policy;
•their investment satisfies the prudence and diversification requirements of ERISA;
•their investment will not impair the liquidity of the Benefit Plan or IRA;
•their investment will not produce UBTI for the Benefit Plan or IRA; and
•they will be able to value the assets of the Benefit Plan or IRA annually in accordance with ERISA, the Code and the applicable provisions of the Benefit Plan or IRA.
ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code prohibit certain transactions that involve (i) Benefit Plans or IRAs, and (ii) any person who is a “party-in-interest” or “disqualified person” with respect to such a Benefit Plan or IRA. Consequently, the fiduciary or owner of a Benefit Plan or an IRA contemplating an investment in our common stock should consider whether we, any other person associated with the issuance of the common stock, or any of our or their affiliates is or might become a “party-in-interest” or “disqualified person” with respect to the Benefit Plan or IRA and, if so, whether an exemption from such prohibited transaction rules is applicable. In addition, the United States Department of Labor plan asset regulations provide that, subject to certain exceptions, the assets of an entity in which a plan holds an equity interest may be treated as assets of the investing plan, in which event investment made by and certain other transactions entered into by such entity would be subject to the prohibited transaction rules. To avoid our assets from being considered “plan assets,” our charter prohibits “benefit plan investors” from owning 25% or more of the shares of our common stock prior to the time that the common stock qualifies as a class of publicly-offered securities, within the meaning of the plan assets regulation. However, we cannot assure our stockholders that those provisions in our charter will be effective in limiting benefit plan investors’ ownership to less than the 25% limit. Due to the complexity of these rules and the potential penalties that may be imposed, it is important that stockholders that are Benefit Plans and IRAs consult with their own advisors regarding the potential applicability of ERISA, the Code and any similar applicable law.
Stockholders that are Benefit Plans and IRAs may be limited in their ability to withdraw required minimum distributions as a result of an investment in shares of our common stock.
If Benefit Plans or IRAs invest in our common stock, the Code may require such plan or IRA to withdraw required minimum distributions in the future. Our stock will be highly illiquid, and our share repurchase plan only offers limited liquidity. If a Benefit Plan or IRA requires liquidity, it may generally sell its shares, but such sale may be at a price less than the price at which such plan or IRA initially purchased its shares of our common stock. If a Benefit Plan or IRA fails to make required minimum distributions, it may be subject to certain taxes and tax penalties.
Specific rules apply to foreign, governmental and church plans.
As a general rule, certain employee benefit plans, including foreign pension plans, governmental plans established or maintained in the United States (as defined in Section 3(32) of ERISA), and certain church plans (as defined in Section 3(33) of ERISA), are not subject to ERISA’s requirements and are not “benefit plan investors” within the meaning of the plan assets regulation. Any such plan that is qualified and exempt from taxation under Sections 401(a) and 501(a) of the Code may nonetheless be subject to the prohibited transaction rules set forth in Section 503 of the Code and, under certain circumstances in the case of church plans, Section 4975 of the Code. Also, some foreign plans and governmental plans may be subject to foreign, state, or local laws which are, to a material extent, similar to the provisions of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code. Each fiduciary of a plan subject to any such similar law should make its own determination as to the need for, and the availability of, any exemption relief.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 2. Properties.
As of December 31, 2020, our principal executive offices are located at 18191 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 300, Irvine, California 92612. We do not have an address separate from our advisor or our co-sponsors. Since we pay our advisor fees for its services, we do not pay rent for the use of its space.
Real Estate Investments
As of December 31, 2020, we operated through six reportable business segments: MOBs, hospitals, SNFs, senior housing, senior housing — RIDEA and integrated senior health campuses. We own and/or operate 100% of our properties as of December 31, 2020, with the exception of our Trilogy investments, or Trilogy Portfolio, Lakeview IN Medical Plaza and Southlake TX Hospital. See Note 13, Equity — Noncontrolling Interests, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for a further discussion of our noncontrolling interests. The following table presents certain additional information about our real estate investments as of December 31, 2020:
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Reportable Segment
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Number of
Buildings/
Campuses
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GLA
(Sq Ft)
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% of
GLA
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Aggregate
Contract
Purchase Price
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Annualized
Base
Rent/NOI(1)
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% of
Annualized
Base Rent/NOI
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Leased
Percentage(2)
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Integrated senior health campuses
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119
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8,471,000
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60.0
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%
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$
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1,626,950,000
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$
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111,058,000
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49.6
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%
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77.0
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%
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Medical office buildings
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63
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2,892,000
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20.5
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657,885,000
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61,004,000
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27.3
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89.0
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%
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Senior housing — RIDEA
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20
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1,734,000
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12.3
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433,891,000
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23,474,000
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10.5
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74.4
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%
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Senior housing
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9
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282,000
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2.0
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89,535,000
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6,637,000
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3.0
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100.0
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%
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Skilled nursing facilities
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7
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558,000
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4.0
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128,000,000
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12,776,000
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5.7
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100.0
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%
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Hospitals
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2
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173,000
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1.2
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139,780,000
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8,786,000
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3.9
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100.0
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%
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Total/weighted average(3)
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220
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14,110,000
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100
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%
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$
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3,076,041,000
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$
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223,735,000
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100
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%
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91.9
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%
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___________
(1)With the exception of our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses, amount is based on contractual base rent from leases in effect as of December 31, 2020. For our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses, amount is based on annualized NOI, a non-GAAP financial measure. See Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Net Operating Income, for a further discussion of NOI.
(2)Leased percentage includes all leased space of the properties included in the respective segment including master leases, except for our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses where leased percentage represents resident occupancy on the available units of the RIDEA facilities or integrated senior health campuses.
(3)Total portfolio weighted average leased percentage excludes our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses.
We own fee simple interests in all of our buildings except for 16 buildings for which we own fee simple interests in the building and improvements of such properties subject to the respective ground leases.
The following information generally applies to our properties:
•we believe all of our properties are adequately covered by insurance and are suitable for their intended purposes;
•we have no plans for any material renovations, improvements or development with respect to any of our properties, except in accordance with planned budgets and within our Trilogy portfolio;
•our properties are located in markets where we are subject to competition for attracting new tenants and residents, as well as retaining current tenants and residents; and
•depreciation is provided on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the buildings and capital improvements, up to 39 years, over the shorter of the lease term or useful lives of the tenant improvements, up to 34 years, and over the estimated useful life of furniture, fixtures and equipment, up to 28 years.
For additional information regarding our real estate investments, see Schedule III, Real Estate and Accumulated Depreciation, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Lease Expirations
Substantially all of our leases with residents at our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses are for a term of one year or less. The following table presents the sensitivity of our annual base rent due to lease expirations for the next 10 years and thereafter at our properties as of December 31, 2020, excluding our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses:
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Year
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Number of
Expiring
Leases
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Total Square
Feet of Expiring
Leases
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% of Leased Area
Represented by
Expiring Leases
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Annual Base Rent
of Expiring Leases(1)
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% of Total
Annual Base Rent
Represented by
Expiring Leases
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2021
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84
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299,000
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8.3
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%
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$
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6,239,000
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6.0
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%
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2022
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61
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340,000
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9.4
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8,100,000
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7.7
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2023
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59
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329,000
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9.1
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8,503,000
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8.1
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2024
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44
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333,000
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9.2
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7,212,000
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6.9
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2025
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41
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414,000
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11.5
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11,341,000
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10.8
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2026
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19
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132,000
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3.7
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2,799,000
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2.7
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2027
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20
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162,000
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4.5
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4,275,000
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4.1
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2028
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10
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160,000
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4.4
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6,231,000
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6.0
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2029
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8
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257,000
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7.1
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5,311,000
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5.1
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2030
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17
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243,000
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6.8
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8,802,000
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8.4
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Thereafter
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24
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939,000
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26.0
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35,733,000
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34.2
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Total
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387
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3,608,000
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100
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%
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$
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104,546,000
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100
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%
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___________
(1)Amount is based on the total annual contractual base rent expiring in the applicable year, based on leases in effect as of December 31, 2020.
Geographic Diversification/Concentration Table
The following table lists our property locations and provides certain information regarding our portfolio’s geographic diversification/concentration as of December 31, 2020:
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State
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Number of
Buildings/
Campuses
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GLA (Sq Ft)
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% of GLA
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Annualized Base
Rent/NOI(1)
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% of Annualized
Base Rent/NOI
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Alabama
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1
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30,000
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0.2
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%
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$
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268,000
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0.1
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%
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Arkansas
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1
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51,000
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0.4
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681,000
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0.3
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California
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2
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65,000
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0.5
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2,040,000
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0.9
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Colorado
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2
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69,000
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0.5
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2,075,000
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0.9
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Connecticut
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4
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108,000
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0.8
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2,063,000
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0.9
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District of Columbia
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1
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134,000
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0.9
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4,627,000
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2.1
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Florida
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2
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62,000
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0.4
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702,000
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0.3
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Georgia
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11
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307,000
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2.2
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5,712,000
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2.6
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Illinois
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6
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122,000
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0.9
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2,319,000
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1.0
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Indiana
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74
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5,190,000
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36.8
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89,176,000
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39.9
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Kansas
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1
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40,000
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0.3
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743,000
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0.3
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Kentucky
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13
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1,009,000
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7.2
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2,692,000
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1.2
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Maryland
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1
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77,000
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0.5
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1,586,000
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0.7
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Massachusetts
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7
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525,000
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3.7
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11,447,000
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5.1
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Michigan
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13
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933,000
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6.6
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15,938,000
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7.1
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Mississippi
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2
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76,000
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0.5
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1,155,000
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0.5
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Missouri
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3
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350,000
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2.5
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7,125,000
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3.2
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Nebraska
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2
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282,000
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2.0
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2,844,000
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1.3
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New Jersey
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3
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278,000
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2.0
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7,192,000
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3.2
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New York
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1
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91,000
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0.6
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2,839,000
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1.3
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North Carolina
|
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7
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272,000
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1.9
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3,866,000
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1.7
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Ohio
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31
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2,322,000
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16.5
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14,145,000
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6.3
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Pennsylvania
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8
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556,000
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3.9
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12,777,000
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5.7
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South Carolina
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1
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58,000
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0.4
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1,073,000
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0.5
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Tennessee
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1
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46,000
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0.3
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822,000
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0.4
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Texas
|
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15
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692,000
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4.9
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|
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18,728,000
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|
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8.4
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|
|
Virginia
|
|
1
|
|
210,000
|
|
1.5
|
|
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4,300,000
|
|
|
1.9
|
|
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Total Domestic
|
|
214
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13,955,000
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|
98.9
|
|
|
218,935,000
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|
|
97.8
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Isle of Man and UK
|
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6
|
|
155,000
|
|
1.1
|
|
|
4,800,000
|
|
|
2.2
|
|
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Total
|
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220
|
|
14,110,000
|
|
100
|
%
|
|
$
|
223,735,000
|
|
|
100
|
%
|
___________
(1)Amount is based on contractual base rent from leases in effect as of December 31, 2020, with the exception of our senior housing — RIDEA facilities and integrated senior health campuses, which amount is based on annualized NOI.
Indebtedness
For a discussion of our indebtedness, see Note 7, Mortgage Loans Payable, Net, and Note 8, Lines of Credit and Term Loans, to the Consolidated Financial Statements that are a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
