Mercedes Kerr

Welltower has a “solid” relationship with Brookdale Senior Living but is not looking to increase its holdings in the company, the healthcare real estate investment trust’s executives told analysts participating in an earnings call on Wednesday.

“What I can tell you about our properties with Brookdale is that we have a solid group, and I will say that we’re not in the habit of giving individual portfolio statistics, but just to illustrate my point, I can tell you just this one time that our portfolio there covers 1.2 times,” Mercedes Kerr, Welltower’s executive vice president of business development, said in response to a question from one analyst. “So we have a solid relationship, but it’s not one that we’re expanding.”

The Welltower portfolio included 148 of Brookdale’s 1,150 senior living properties as of Dec. 31, the REIT reported. By number of properties, the company is the REIT’s largest single operating partner.

Asked whether Welltower’s relationship with Brookdale would change if another REIT were to acquire an ownership stake in the company, Kerr noted that Welltower’s agreements contain consent rights and similar provisions that could apply, depending on the situation.

“We always seek to protect our shareholders’ interests,” she said. “We really have no particular idea of what could play out, if anything at all. It is speculative. But just know that we will have a seat at the table if ever it’s required.”

Healthcare REIT Ventas is in talks to purchase all or part of Brookdale, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 16.