Ventas, an S&P 500 company, announced it has formed a joint venture with GIC, a global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves, for the development of Research & Innovation (R&I) projects in the U.S.
Ventas said the joint venture (JV) will initially own four in-progress university-based Research & Innovation (R&I) development projects (Initial R&I JV Projects) with total project costs estimated at $930 million.
Ventas contributed its ownership interest in the Initial R&I JV Projects into the JV. Ventas will own an over 50 percent interest, and GIC will own a 45 percent interest, in the Initial R&I JV Projects. Ventas’s development partner, Wexford Science & Technology (Wexford), remains the developer of, and a minority partner in, all of the Initial R&I JV Projects.
The Initial R&I JV Projects will contain 1.4 million square feet when completed and are approximately 65 percent pre-leased in aggregate. The projects are expected to open between 2021 and 2023.
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The projects include One uCity, an expansion of the Philadelphia uCity Square submarket associated with the University of Pennsylvania; College of Nursing and Health Professions (“CNHP”), Drexel University, a state-of-the-art academic medicine facility, also in uCity Square, which will provide CNHP students, faculty and staff with immediate access to Drexel’s full suite of on-campus resources; Pitt Immune Transplant & Therapy Center (Phases I & II), the creation of a research, academic medicine and innovation hub anchored by a new relationship with the University of Pittsburgh; Arizona State University, a class-A, fully lab-enabled R&I center anchored by Arizona State University and focused on biomedical discovery and innovation in health outcomes.
“We are excited to announce this attractive R&I development partnership with GIC, one of the world’s most respected real estate investors,” said Debra A. Cafaro, Ventas Chairman & CEO. “With this strategic partnership, we continue to diversify our capital sources, retain a majority interest in our ongoing R&I developments, accelerate additional projects from our pipeline of opportunities and enhance our liquidity and financial flexibility. With GIC and Wexford, we look forward to successfully completing our in-progress R&I projects and launching additional R&I developments from our existing pipeline together.”
“Following the successful launch and continued growth of our perpetual life vehicle focused on investing in core healthcare real estate, we are pleased to further expand our third-party capital management platform through this JV to now have over $3 billion in assets under management.”
Lee Kok Sun, Chief Investment Officer of Real Estate, GIC said, “As a long-term investor, we are confident that the life sciences sector will continue to flourish, driven by the growing and aging global population, as well as increased public and private funding for life sciences R&D. We are pleased to establish this partnership with Ventas, and look forward to scaling our venture together.”
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