Northwest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust Releases First Quarter Results

Published on Tuesday, 08 May 2012 17:13 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

TORONTO, May 8, 2012 /CNW/ - NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (the "REIT") (TSX: NWH.UN), Canada's largest non-government owner and operator of medical office buildings and healthcare real estate, today announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Highlights of the Quarter:

• AFFO per unit for the quarter was $0.20, consistent with the previous quarter.
• Occupancy decreased slightly to 90.9% from the previous quarter, primarily due to the vacancy of a large, single tenant at a property in Calgary.
• On January 19, 2012 the REIT acquired Centre Medicale de l'Hetriere, a 36,502 square foot medical office building located in Greater Quebec City. The property was acquired for $7.0 million free and clear of mortgages, with the REIT subsequently securing 10-year mortgage financing for $4.6 million at a fixed interest rate of 4.23%. Centre Medicale de L'Hetriere is a newer development and is the only prominent medical building in its fast growing market.
• On January 23, 2012 the REIT completed its acquisition of Moncton Medical Clinic in Moncton, New Brunswick for $7.86 million. The REIT assumed and subsequently increased the vendor's existing mortgage to an aggregate principal amount of approximately $5.1 million, a weighted average interest rate of 4.71% and a 2016 maturity. Comprising 42,729 square feet, Moncton Medical Clinic is a premiere medical office building in its market due to favourable scale, design and location.
• On February 1, 2012, the REIT amended, expanded and extended its Revolving Credit Facility.  The Revolving Credit Facility was expanded to $50 million, the interest rate was reduced, and the term was extended to March 25, 2014.  As part of the expansion, Polyclinique Val-Belair and Canamera Medical Centre were added to the security pool.
• On March 14, 2012, the REIT refinanced Clinique Bois-de-Boulogne (1575 Henri-Bourassa Blvd. West), Montreal with a $10.5 million 10 year mortgage loan at an interest rate of 4.01%.
• On March 30, 2012 the REIT acquired the 53,082 square foot Springbank Medical Centre in London, Ontario. The property was acquired for $24 million free and clear of mortgages, with the REIT subsequently entering into a commitment for a two year, $13 million floating rate mortgage loan secured against the property. Springbank Medical Centre has quickly become one of the dominant medical office buildings in London due to its new construction, appealing design and diversified healthcare tenant mix.
• The REIT paid distributions of $0.06667 per unit on January 13, 2011, February 15, 2011 and March 15, 2011, consistent with its annualized target of $0.80 cents per unit.

Selected Financial Information:

Subsequent Events:

• On April 10, 2012, a two year, $13.0 million floating rate mortgage loan secured against the Springbank Medical Centre funded.
• On April 10, 2012 the REIT completed the acquisition of Willow Brook Medical Centre, a 34,800 square foot medical office and retail property in Airdrie, Alberta. The purchase price was $14.5 million and the property was acquired free and clear of mortgage financing.  Subsequent to the acquisition, the REIT entered into a six year, $9.55 million mortgage at a fixed interest rate of 3.62% which funded on April 16, 2012.
• On May 7, 2012 a 10 year $11.7 million mortgage on the Malvern Medical Arts property at a fixed rate of 4.31% funded.
• Subsequent to the quarter following the mortgage financings of the Willow Brook Medical Centre and the Malvern Medical Arts property, the Revolving Credit Facility was paid down to $15.5 million.
• Subsequent to the quarter, the REIT entered into an agreement in principle with NorthWest Value Partners Inc.  ("NWVP") to acquire the GT Canada Medical Properties REIT ("GT Canada") portfolio of twelve medical office buildings from GT Canada conditional upon more than two-thirds of GT Canada unitholders tendering their units to NWVP in accordance with NWVP's public offer to acquire such units.  The purchase price for the portfolio is $87.3 million.  The twelve properties comprise approximately 280,000 square feet of rentable area and over 170 tenants and are approximately 98% leased to primarily healthcare related tenants.  The purchase price will be satisfied by the assumption of approximately $49.5 million of mortgage debt and the issue of REIT units to GT Canada (at GT Canada's option) and cash.
• The REIT declared distributions of $0.06667 per unit to unitholders of record as at April 30, 2012.

Peter Riggin, CEO, commented that "We are well-positioned to achieve this year's plan of improved operational and financial performance, particularly in the second half of the year."

The non-GAAP measures used in this press release, such as FFO and AFFO, are key financial measures used by the real estate industry to measure and compare the operating performance of real estate companies, but they do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by Canadian generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").  As such, they are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other real estate companies.  These non-GAAP measures are more fully defined and discussed in the REIT's management discussion and analysis (the "MD&A") for the first quarter of 2012, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the REIT, its operations, strategy, financial performance and condition.  These statements generally can be identified by use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intends", "believe", or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The REIT's actual results and performance discussed herein could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.  Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations, including that the transactions contemplated herein are completed.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, changes in government regulations and the factors described under "Risk Factors" in REIT's Prospectus and the risks and uncertainties set out in the MD&A which are available on www.sedar.com. These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to the REIT and persons acting on its behalf.  Unless otherwise stated, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the REIT assumes no obligation to update such statements.

The REIT invites you to participate in its conference call with senior management to discuss our first quarter 2012 results on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern). The conference call can be accessed by dialing (416) 640-3404 or 1-866-322-1159. The conference ID is 2744448.

Audio replay is available until May 16, 2012 by dialing 647-436-0148 or 1-888-203-1112. The passcode is 2744448.

The webcast of the conference call can be accessed from the "Investor Relations" page of the REIT's web site at www.nwhp.ca, and will be archived for 30 days.

About NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust established under the laws of the Province of Ontario. The REIT holds a portfolio of 62 income-producing properties, with a focus on medical office buildings and healthcare real estate, comprising approximately 4.2 million square feet of gross leasable area located in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

SOURCE NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust