CHICAGO, May 17, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) ("Ventas" or the "Company") said today that
Lazard Real Estate Partners ("LREP") Chief Executive Officer and
Managing Principal Matthew J. Lustig was appointed to its Board of
Directors, effective May 13, 2011.
"We welcome Matt to the Ventas Board of Directors," Ventas Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Debra A. Cafaro said. "We look forward to
benefiting from his insights and experience gleaned while serving as a
trusted advisor to leading real estate companies and a fiduciary for the
nation's premier public and private pension plans."
Lustig, 50, also serves as a Managing Director of Lazard Alternative
Investments LLC, an affiliate of LREP, and Vice Chairman of US
Investment Banking and Head of Real Estate at Lazard Frères & Co. LLC.
In addition, Mr. Lustig is or has been a board member of several public
and private portfolio investments of funds managed by LREP or its
affiliates. Prior to joining Lazard Frères & Co. in 1989, Mr. Lustig was
a First Vice President at Drexel Burnham Lambert and was previously a
lending officer with Chase Manhattan Bank, specializing in credit,
construction, and real estate finance. He is also the Chairman of Atria
Senior Living, Inc., the fourth largest assisted living provider in the
United States that manages, on a long-term basis, 118 senior living
communities owned by Ventas.
Lustig received a BSFS in international economics from Georgetown
University. He currently serves on the Boards of the Pension Real Estate
Association, the Larson Leadership Initiative of the Urban Land
Institute and The Wharton School Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center and is a
member of the Real Estate Roundtable. He is also a director of Boston
Properties, Inc., an office property REIT, and sits on the Real Estate
Advisory Board at Columbia University School of Business and the Board
of Visitors of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a leading healthcare real estate
investment trust. Its diverse portfolio of more than 700 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. After giving
effect to the pending Nationwide Health Properties transaction, Ventas's
portfolio will consist of more than 1,300 properties in 48 states
(including the District of Columbia) and two Canadian provinces. 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, dispositions, merger
integration, growth opportunities, 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 its pending transaction with Nationwide Health Properties and
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) 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; (i)
the Company's ability to pay down, refinance, restructure and/or extend
its indebtedness as it becomes due; (j) the Company's ability and
willingness to maintain its qualification as a REIT due to economic,
market, legal, tax or other considerations; (k) final determination of
the Company's taxable net income for the year ended December 31, 2010
and for the year ending December 31, 2011; (l) 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; (m) 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; (n) the movement of U.S. and Canadian exchange rates; (o)
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; (p) 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; (q) 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; (r)
risks associated with the Company's MOB portfolio and operations,
including its ability to successfully design, develop and manage MOBs,
to accurately estimate its costs in fixed fee-for-service projects and
to retain key personnel; (s) 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; (t) the Company's ability to
maintain or expand its relationships with its existing and future
hospital and health system clients; (u) risks associated with the
Company's investments in joint ventures and unconsolidated entities,
including its lack of sole decision-making authority and its reliance on
its joint venture partners' financial condition; (v) the impact of
market or issuer events on the liquidity or value of the Company's
investments in marketable securities; and (w) the impact of any
financial, accounting, legal or regulatory issues or litigation 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