Global Medical REIT Inc. (NYSE:GMRE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Juan Sanabria: Thank you. And then just the last question on pipeline health. The tenant that came back from bankruptcy and reemerged in January. Could you just give us an update on comfort level that once you use up some undetermined amount of security deposits to help them pay their cash rents in 2023 on the sustainability of that rental stream to shareholders?

Alfonzo Leon: I can start with the comment. I mean, I think a lot of it — a lot of the pressure in 2022 came from the wage inflation around nursing staff. And I mean, there is — the year has started with relief on that side. And I think some of the things we were hearing at the beginning of the year, end of last year from pipeline about that line item, in particular, seems to be trending as they were predicting. So long as that continues finding relief and those rates start coming down, then I think the comfort level increases.

Juan Sanabria: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Rob Stevenson with Janney Montgomery Scott. Please proceed with your question.

Rob Stevenson: Good morning, guys. Alfonzo, you broke up a little bit when you were talking, I think one of the earlier questions about cap rates on the acquisition you were considering what’s your hurdle rate there? What is the cap rates on the stuff that you’re looking at this point given your cost of capital?

Alfonzo Leon: 7.5 or higher. I mean, we’re looking at stuff in the high 7s and there’s a few in the low 8s. But we really haven’t found anything yet that is a good fit for us. There’s — the year did start off slow in January and February there was a pickup, but we’re targeting north of 7.5

Rob Stevenson: Okay. And then Bob, in terms of financing that, the line of credit, your lowest cost incremental debt at this point?

Robert Kiernan: It still is, yes. I mean, it’s — from a borrowing capacity it’s still — I mean, from a financing rate perspective, it’s still the lowest cost. I mean we’ve explored and looked at other potential sources, but I think at this point from a temporary basis as you — if you think about the revolver, we would talk about the dispositions that would bring our variable rate debt down to 10% of our total debt with the dispositions. And then prospectively, we’d look to really over equitize, we’d look to maintain that leverage in that lower — in that target range as we went ahead.

Rob Stevenson: Okay. And then I think that in the prepared comments, you guys said that the $6.7 million acquisition will be funded primarily with OP units. How are you guys thinking about that? Are those just struck at market levels? Was that a negotiation and struck at higher than $10 et cetera? How should we be thinking about that? And sort of — the sort of fully-loaded yield on any type of acquisition funded today with equity?

Robert Kiernan: Yes. Essentially, we do it higher than the price. It’s very negotiable because of the tax savings of them. So, we do it higher than the stock price on those OP units. We have some interest in them. I think when we start doing deals, since we’re trying to reduce our leverage, we’re trying to push more OP units out there. At one point, we weren’t doing that. And we’ve been offered that, but we weren’t doing that because it wasn’t worth it to us at the time. But now OP units are important part of growing being more equity. We’re real conscious of bringing down our debt levels and staying in the 40% to 45% and then as we grow in the future, even going below that. So, it’s a goal of bringing down our debt. At the same time, we’re finding product out there and we could sell assets in the low 6s and there seems to be a lot of demand for what we have in that low 6s and we are capable of then buying in 7 — mid-7s to 8s.