Boston, MA 07/09/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF) is reportedly in talks to buy Griffin-America Healthcare REIT II, according to people with insider knowledge.
Griffin-America is an Irvine, California-based company that was founded in 2009, but its shares don’t trade in the stock exchange. The company had $3 billion worth of assets at the end of 1Q. The company owns 286 properties in 31 states in the U.S. and U.K. the business generated about $2.8 billion in equity fundraiser last year.
Talks collapse
Griffin-American would have been sold in May for $3.7 billion to American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCT). However, the talks collapsed last month when HTC agreed to $2.6 billion stock and cash deal to join Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR).
According to sources, a cash and stock deal is being pursued between Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF) and Griffin-America in what could value the transaction at $4 billion.
The talks are exclusive, and sources say they are scheduled to expire on Friday.
Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF) is a New York-based company that has recently become aggressive in healthcare real estate deals. Earlier this year it purchased skilled-nursing and senior housing facilities for about $1.05 billion.
The discussions with Griffin-American are the latest in a broad scheme by the company to take advantage of the big demand for senior housing and medical services properties because of the growing old population in the U.S.
The company spun off its asset management business into a separate company this month. The business was separated as NorthStar Asset Management Group, Inc. (NYSE:NSAM).
Healthcare REITs
Publicly traded healthcare REITs were the poor performers in the property-trust market in the past 12 months. However, they are rebounding amid reduced borrowing costs that enable companies to cheaply obtain money for acquisitions. The shortage of healthcare properties is also driving support for healthcare REITs such as Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF).
