CHICAGO, Nov 02, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) ("Ventas") said today that Executive Vice
President and Chief Investment Officer Raymond J. Lewis, 46, has been
promoted to President of the Company, effective immediately. Lewis, who
joined Ventas in 2002, will be responsible for investments and asset
management, reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Debra A.
Cafaro.
"Ray has been an integral part of our success and a valued partner since
he joined Ventas eight years ago. This promotion is well deserved and
will allow Ray to manage all investments and asset management of our
large, diversified and growing portfolio of productive healthcare and
seniors housing assets. I know he will bring his leadership skills,
customer orientation and commitment to Ventas and its stakeholders to
his new position," Cafaro said.
Ventas also announced today the recent hiring of John D. Cobb as Senior
Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, reporting to Lewis,
effective November 15, 2010. Cobb, 39, had been President and Chief
Executive Officer of Senior Lifestyle Corporation since 2008. Before
that, he spent ten years with GE Healthcare Financial Services, with
increasing levels of responsibility, rising to Senior Managing Director.
He holds a B.A. in finance from Lehigh University and serves or has
served on the Boards of the National Investment Center and the American
Seniors Housing Association.
"With John's deep relationships in the healthcare real estate and
seniors housing industry, excellent reputation as a result-driven
executive, and proven track record of growing a business, he will be an
important addition to the Ventas team," Lewis said.
Also reporting to Lewis are Vincent M. Cozzi, Senior Vice President,
Medical Office Properties, and Timothy A. Doman, Senior Vice President,
Asset Management. "With three strong leaders reporting to Ray, Ventas
will be well positioned to execute its strategic growth plans, manage
its relationships with the Company's tenant operators, and effectively
supervise its expansive asset base. The depth, cohesiveness and
consistency of our senior managers are sources of great strength for the
Company," Cafaro added.
Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a leading healthcare real estate
investment trust. Its diverse portfolio of nearly 600 assets in 44
states (including the District of Columbia) and two Canadian provinces
consists of seniors housing communities, skilled nursing facilities,
hospitals, medical office buildings and other properties. Through its
Lillibridge subsidiary, Ventas provides management, leasing, marketing,
facility development and advisory services to highly rated hospitals and
health systems throughout the United States. More information about
Ventas and Lillibridge can be found at www.ventasreit.com
and www.lillibridge.com.
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All
statements regarding the Company's or its tenants', operators',
managers' or borrowers' expected future financial position, results of
operations, cash flows, funds from operations, dividends and dividend
plans, financing plans, business strategy, budgets, projected costs,
operating metrics, capital expenditures, competitive positions,
acquisitions, investment opportunities, merger integration, growth
opportunities, dispositions, expected lease income, continued
qualification as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), plans and
objectives of management for future operations and statements that
include words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will" and other similar
expressions are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking
statements are inherently uncertain, and security holders must recognize
that actual results may differ from the Company's expectations. The
Company does not undertake a duty to update such forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made.
The Company's actual future results and trends may differ materially
depending on a variety of factors discussed in the Company's filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors include
without limitation: (a) the ability and willingness of the Company's
tenants, operators, borrowers, managers and other third parties to meet
and/or perform their obligations under their respective contractual
arrangements with the Company, including, in some cases, their
obligations to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Company from and
against various claims, litigation and liabilities; (b) the ability of
the Company's tenants, operators, borrowers and managers to maintain the
financial strength and liquidity necessary to satisfy their respective
obligations and liabilities to third parties, including without
limitation obligations under their existing credit facilities and other
indebtedness; (c) the Company's success in implementing its business
strategy and the Company's ability to identify, underwrite, finance,
consummate and integrate diversifying acquisitions or investments,
including those in different asset types and outside the United States;
(d) the nature and extent of future competition; (e) the extent of
future or pending healthcare reform and regulation, including cost
containment measures and changes in reimbursement policies, procedures
and rates; (f) increases in the Company's cost of borrowing as a result
of changes in interest rates and other factors; (g) the ability of the
Company's operators and managers, as applicable, to deliver high quality
services, to attract and retain qualified personnel and to attract
residents and patients; (h) the results of litigation affecting the
Company; (i) changes in general economic conditions and/or economic
conditions in the markets in which the Company may, from time to time,
compete, and the effect of those changes on the Company's revenues and
its ability to access the capital markets or other sources of funds; (j)
the Company's ability to pay down, refinance, restructure and/or extend
its indebtedness as it becomes due; (k) the Company's ability and
willingness to maintain its qualification as a REIT due to economic,
market, legal, tax or other considerations; (l) final determination of
the Company's taxable net income for the year ending December 31, 2010;
(m) the ability and willingness of the Company's tenants to renew their
leases with the Company upon expiration of the leases and the Company's
ability to reposition its properties on the same or better terms in the
event such leases expire and are not renewed by the Company's tenants or
in the event the Company exercises its right to replace an existing
tenant upon default; (n) risks associated with the Company's senior
living operating portfolio, such as factors causing volatility in the
Company's operating income and earnings generated by its properties,
including without limitation national and regional economic conditions,
costs of materials, energy, labor and services, employee benefit costs,
insurance costs and professional and general liability claims, and the
timely delivery of accurate property-level financial results for those
properties; (o) the movement of U.S. and Canadian exchange rates; (p)
year-over-year changes in the Consumer Price Index and the effect of
those changes on the rent escalators, including the rent escalator for
Master Lease 2 with Kindred Healthcare, Inc., and the Company's
earnings; (q) the Company's ability and the ability of its tenants,
operators, borrowers and managers to obtain and maintain adequate
liability and other insurance from reputable and financially stable
providers; (r) the impact of increased operating costs and uninsured
professional liability claims on the liquidity, financial condition and
results of operations of the Company's tenants, operators, borrowers and
managers, and the ability of the Company's tenants, operators, borrowers
and managers to accurately estimate the magnitude of those claims; (s)
the ability and willingness of the lenders under the Company's unsecured
revolving credit facilities to fund, in whole or in part, borrowing
requests made by the Company from time to time; (t) risks associated
with the Company's recent acquisition of businesses owned and operated
by Lillibridge, including its ability to successfully design, develop
and manage MOBs and to retain key personnel; (u) the ability of the
hospitals on or near whose campuses the Company's MOBs are located and
their affiliated health systems to remain competitive and financially
viable and to attract physicians and physician groups; (v) the Company's
ability to maintain or expand its relationships with its existing and
future hospital and health system clients; (w) risks associated with the
Company's investments in joint ventures, including its lack of sole
decision-making authority and its reliance on its joint venture
partners' financial condition;(x) the impact of market or issuer events
on the liquidity or value of the Company's investments in marketable
securities; and (y) the impact of any financial, accounting, legal or
regulatory issues that may affect the Company or its major tenants,
operators or managers.Many of these factors are beyond the
control of the Company and its management.
SOURCE: Ventas, Inc.
Ventas, Inc.
David J. Smith, (877) 4-VENTAS