Scott M. Brinker
Analyst · RBC Capital Markets
Yes, thank you, George, and good morning, everyone. The year's off to an excellent start for the HCN portfolio. Our real estate is best-in-class, we have deep relationships with the industry's leading providers. This combination allows us to produce consistent and resilient internal and external growth, evidenced by our superior same-store NOI growth and substantial follow-on investments with our existing operating partners. Our portfolio of more than 1,100 properties continues to outperform. Same-store NOI increased 3.5% in the first quarter versus the previous year, which is quite impressive in a low growth, low inflation economy. The portfolio, which is more than 80% private pay and trending higher, continues to deliver unique combination of growth and stability. Our high quality RIDEA portfolio as managed by premier operators including Sunrise, Belmont Village, Silverado, Benchmark, Brookdale and Merrill Gardens. In addition to the benefits of diversification, this impressive list of operator relationships positions us for external growth as we've completed follow-on investments which each of them. Our RIDEA portfolio is also firmly positioned for internal growth, with a concentration in wealthy, infill locations along the East and West Coast, and in major metro markets in between. Housing values in our local markets are nearly 60% above the national average. Same-store NOI increased 5.6% from 1 year ago, quite strong given that NOI for this portfolio grew more than 10% in the comparable quarter last year. In addition, largely due to the strong occupancy trends, there's a good chance we'll deliver a growth rate for full year 2013 in excess of our previous guidance of 5%. Our facilities provide need-based hospitality and health care services, in addition to an apartment residence. Demand for these services is less elastic than pure real estate, a key differentiator when comparing the resiliency of senior housing to other real estate asset classes. The rapidly growing senior population adds even more predictability to the demand equation. Turning to triple-net senior housing, same-store NOI grew 2.8% in comparison to last year, in line with our expectations and consistent with our long-term growth expectation for this portfolio due to bundled master leases, contractual rent increases and an average lease maturity of 13 years. Payment coverage is stable at 1.15x after management fees. Triple-net senior housing is the second largest component of our overall portfolio and is well-diversified among the sector's leading operators including Brookdale, Capital Senior Living, Ameritas, Brookdale and Senior Lifestyles. With respect to our triple-net skilled nursing portfolio, same-store NOI grew 3% from 1 year ago, and we expect similar growth going forward due to contractual rate increases. Genesis now accounts for 80% of our skilled nursing portfolio, and the percentage is trending higher. We have a single bundle master lease with Genesis, it doesn't expire for another 16 years, plus a corporate guarantee. Our rental payment from Genesis is well-secured, as we expect 1.3x fixed charge coverage in 2013 with improvement over time due to the company's scale, post-acute platform and synergies from the acquisition of Sun Healthcare. Our portfolio of more than 200 medical office buildings is defined by its stability. New supply in the MOB sector has grown at less than 2% in each of the past several years, which is less than the growth in demand. Set amid these favorable supply-demand fundamentals, our MOB portfolio is particularly well-situated. An average size of 67,000 square feet and an average age of just 11 years, our assets were designed as outpatient health care centers, not simply physician office space. The portfolio is, therefore, well-positioned to benefit from the relentless shift toward outpatient care. In addition, 93% of our portfolio is affiliated with the health system, which in our experience, leads to substantially higher occupancy and rental rates. Same-store NOI in this portfolio grew 3.2% in the first quarter from 1 year ago, slightly above our expectations due to strong leasing activity. We self-manage the vast majority of our MOB portfolio, and our team is successfully building health system relationships and driving NOI growth. Our hospital portfolio continues to produce well-secured triple-net rental income due to healthy, 2.2x payment coverage after management fees, and bundled master leases with corporate guarantees. Same-store NOI grew 2.1% in the first quarter from 1 year ago, in line with our expectations. Same-store NOI in our Life Science portfolio grew 5.6% in comparison to last year, continuing a trend of outsize growth as rent to reset the market, which was our thesis when we made the investment 3 years ago. The entire 1.2 million square foot portfolio is adjacent to the campus of MIT in Cambridge, the world's prominent Life Science market. This is incredibly valuable real estate. Turning to new investments. We invested $2.6 billion in the first quarter with most of the activity related to Sunrise. We expect to complete our Sunrise acquisition in July, at which point our investment will be $4.3 billion, with a yield exceeding 6.5% based on our NOI budget for the second half of the year, which is a remarkable return in the current market given the size, quality and growth prospects of the portfolio. Our teams execution on the joint venture buy-outs has surpassed all expectations with respect to timing and economics. Also included in our first quarter activity was the acquisition of 2 senior housing communities in the Pacific Northwest that we added to our successful partnership with Brookdale. Yet another example of our sector leading ability to do follow-on investments with existing partners. At the external growth, we are reviewing abundant opportunity to cross the continuum of care in our core markets. We're highly selective in allocating capital to new investments, with the focus on high-quality real estate and our deep and often proprietary relationships with leading providers. I'll now turn the call over the Scott Estes, our CFO, who will discuss our financial results.