Global Medical REIT Inc. (NYSE:GMRE) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Alfonzo Leon: Yes. So starting with where the market is today. So for the type of assets that we like, it’s north of mid 7s. There are some assets that we’ve seen that are trading as like low 8s. And there’s — but I think there’s still — the last couple of months have made us feel like, look, I think there’s good reason to wait to see where cap rates trend over the next few months and try to get better pricing. With regards to the second part of the question, I mean, it’s — we’re waiting for our stock price to get to a better range where we can start buying accretively. And right now, we’re not within range.

Juan Sanabria: Okay. And then just on the second question on the operations, the fundamentals. Margins look like they dipped a little bit despite flat occupancy and recognize there could be some seasonality and timing difference in expenses. But just curious on how we should be thinking about margins going forward. I’m not sure if there’s some leakage on the expense side as we’ve seen some elevated inflation. So just curious if you could make some comments on the margins.

Robert Kiernan: The margins did decrease in the quarter, and it was driven — I know while vacancy was the same in both periods. We did see more expenses from vacant properties. It’s really been the primary driver for the dip in it. But that’s — from a leakage perspective, I think our leakage on net leases has been pretty consistent from quarter-to-quarter. It’s really the vacant space costs that have been ticking up. And also as we’ve added on more gross leases there’s been a little bit more exposure from that side as well.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Bryan Maher with B. Riley.

Bryan Maher: Maybe for Alfonzo. Can you give us a little color on how that Oklahoma transaction came about maybe who the buyers are of these assets at these 5-something and 6-something cap rates?

Alfonzo Leon: Yes. So we went through a process at the end of the year to try to identify assets that we felt were liquid in this current environment. And those are typically assets that are simple. So preference for single tenants versus multi-tenant properties with a clear credit story and properties with longer lease terms. So Oklahoma was selected for those reasons. We ran a process and we got a lot of interest from private equity buyers. And so — and that was true really with all the properties that we’ve put in the market, very strong interest from private equity investors. The North Charleston asset, that went to a 1031 exchange buyer. So that was very strong pricing, which was very unique given the circumstances of the buyer, but very happy with that result. But yes, it’s been the private equity buyers that started the year very aggressively. And we ran a process and focused on executing those transactions in the first half of the year.

Bryan Maher: And how much of the $10.1 million from North Charleston was in OP units?

Alfonzo Leon: So the OP units that we mentioned was for the acquisition in Redding. Is that what you’re referring to?

Bryan Maher: Yes, yes, exactly. I’m sorry about that.

Robert Kiernan: 90% of the deal was done in OP units.

Bryan Maher: Yes. And then just last for me. When you — and I think you touched upon this Alfonzo, but maybe a little bit more granularly. Are there any type of common themes among the assets that you’re looking to sell not from the standpoint of kind of single tenant and clean, but as far as asset type goes?

Alfonzo Leon: Somewhat. We did have a preference to sell higher acuity assets to increase our MOB footprint. So the Oklahoma asset is a surgical hospital. But really, what we were focused on was trying to get really good pricing and that was our primary focus.