Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jay Sugarman: Hey, Tony. I think it’s the same exact pitch as it was before. On a relative basis, we’re still the most efficient source of capital. So if you go down the entire capital structure, right, unlevered yields have blown out, cost of debt has blown out, whether that’s fee simple or leasehold loans, and obviously, our cost of capital has changed. If I look at a multifamily transaction where there’s at least a little bit of transaction volume, the agencies are still providing fixed rate debt, but it’s in the north of 6% range at lower leverage levels. So we’re still an accretive source of capital to our customers.

Anthony Paolone: Okay. And then on the, I guess, land to total property value, I think that used to be 35% to 40%. It’s crept up a little bit north of 40%, it seems, like, do you think that’s the new level or is that just maybe some of the more recent deals?

Jay Sugarman: I think we’ve taken probably a more conservative approach than some of the sponsors. Those new acquisitions are based on our actual appraisal, sorry, our actual internal work. They’ll get appraised by CBRE on a rolling annual basis. So I would say we’re just taking a more conservative view on the underwriting side. But broadly, the credit metrics remain consistent.

Anthony Paolone: Okay. And then just last one for me, on the leasehold loan fund, it looks like that capital is getting extended out at quote 11% thereabouts. What’s the underlying there to support that yield and is that current pay or is that a PIC structure, like, just kind of what’s underneath there?

Brett Asnas: Yeah. So each loan’s different. But typically, a lot of those either have a component of cash and a component of PIC or their current cash pay. So those will flow through the cash flow statement. But I think what you see in the, I call it, earnings from equity method investment line is the combination of what we’re yielding on the asset as well as the purchase that we made at merger, which was at a discount based on where current rates were at that moment.

Anthony Paolone: Right. But like the 11, like, I guess, just maybe remind me what’s kind of underneath. Is it development stuff or is it just current cash flow assets, like, what’s supporting it?

Marcos Alvarado: Yeah. So there’s one asset that was originally a construction loan. It’s actually built and beginning lease up. It’s a brand new multifamily asset in Nashville. And then there is a Trophy Life Science asset in Cambridge that is a development deal. And then the final deal is a repositioning of a mixed use asset, which includes a life science component in Cambridge as well.

Anthony Paolone: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Got it.

Marcos Alvarado: Oh! And then a small, I apologize. There’s one more. There’s a small multifamily existing asset as well in Seattle, it was.

Anthony Paolone: Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is coming from Ron Kamdem with Morgan Stanley. Please put your question. Your line is live.

Ron Kamdem: Great. A couple of quick ones just on back to the originations. Are these, so the one deal in the quarter and the two posts, were those existing relationships? And sort of when you were talking about the pipeline, maybe can you sort of dissect that in terms of existing versus sort of new relationships? Thanks.

Jay Sugarman: Those three were existing customers. So repeat transactions, which is great to see. And I would say the pipeline I’m looking at it right now is a mix of new and existing customers.

Ron Kamdem: Great. And then just looking at the Caret, the revaluation was slightly down. I think 10.0 from 10.1, which is, doesn’t look like a big deal, but just wondering, was there like one asset or what sort of drove that this quarter?