Buyer Demand Remains High for Corporate Sale-Leaseback Deals
Originally published by Wealth Management
The corporate sale-leaseback market is coming off a record-high first quarter for deal-making. Despite repricing occurring in the wake of rising debt costs, industry insiders remain optimistic of continued strong momentum ahead in the remainder of the year.
The $8.4 billion in sales logged in first quarter is on par with fourth quarter 2021 activity and nearly triple the $2.9 billion in transactions recorded in the first quarter of 2021, according to a market analysis by SLB Capital Advisors. “That is the biggest first quarter that we’ve seen. The dollar volume was driven largely by two casino deals, but the 186 is the highest count that we’ve seen over the last few years by a good 20 to 30,” says Scott Merkle, managing director of SLB Capital Advisors.
The casino transactions included VICI’s acquisition of the Venetian Resort, Expo and Convention Center for $4 billion and GLPI’s acquisition of two Cordish Companies’ Live! properties for $674 million. Merkle also attributes activity to the huge volume of M&A activity that occurred in 2021.
Traditionally, companies use sale-leasebacks as a financing tool to monetize or “unlock” 100 percent of the equity tied up in real estate. That capital is often used to reinvest back into the business, improve balance sheets or finance expansion. Another catalyst for sale-leasebacks is M&A activity, with the acquiring entity using a sale-leaseback on the real estate of the business they are buying to help finance the acquisition. According to BMO Capital Markets, the U.S. saw 478 M&A transactions last year that were valued at nearly $1.9 trillion.
“A lot of times what we see on the M&A side is groups that will utilize that sale-leaseback as part of the capital stack, and there was an incredible amount of M&A activity last year,” says Jeff Tracy, a senior vice president at Northmarq in Tulsa, Okla. A sale-leaseback of the real estate can bring in 20 to 30 percent of the overall capital stack needed, which helps to reduce the amount of equity and/or debt a buyer needs to bring to the table, he adds.
Some industry experts estimate that industrial assets represent nearly half of all corporate sale-leaseback transactions, and expansion of the industrial sector over the past few years has provided fresh inventory for eager buyers. “Our business has never been more brisk. We are seeing a lot of activity as corporate users continue to look to monetize their industrial real estate and corporate-owned facilities, because they realize it’s a better use of funds to be able to put that capital to work within their business,” says Erik Foster, a principal and head of industrial capital markets, Capital Markets at Avison Young in Chicago.
Market adjusts to higher rates
The broader market is adjusting to higher costs of debt financing for real estate, which has climbed 150 to 250+ basis points since January 1. Although sources agree that rising interest rates haven’t changed the volume of sale-leaseback deals that are getting done, it is resulting in price adjustments and fewer bidders. “As debt has gotten more expensive, buildings can’t sell as aggressively as they did a couple of months ago,” notes Foster.
On average, cap rates have increased between 25 and 75 basis points, depending on the building, location, tenant and term. “The better locations and better credits are going to be less impacted, because there is a significant amount of capital still out there that is chasing deals,” says Tracy. The smaller or more challenging credits and tertiary locations are seeing bigger moves in cap rates, he adds.
Although there is still significant capital targeting sale-leasebacks, the bidder pool has thinned with some investors that have pushed pause amid the repricing that is occurring. Instead of getting 10 offers, a sale-leaseback listing might get six or seven now, because buyers are being more cautious, notes Merkle. SLB Capital Advisors is currently working on a sale-leaseback of an industrial portfolio valued between $75 million and $100 million. First round offers came in during the first week of April with nine groups that advanced. Typically, buyers increase their offers when moving to the second round. However, due to the rise in interest rates, many moved in the opposite direction, lowering their price. The deal is under LOI and moving forward, but the pullback on bidding speaks to how buyers are moving more cautiously, notes Merkle.
Stan Johnson Co. is working on the sale-leaseback of a portfolio of properties for a recreational vehicle business. One of the bids received was structured with a floating cap rate. The bidder included a cap rate range that allowed the seller to choose the rent level they wanted to set, as well as a fixed basis point spread over treasury to account for rate fluctuations. So, depending on how rates moved prior to the deal closing, the cap rate also could move. “That is something I haven’t seen before, and I think it points to the fact that groups still have a desire to get deals done and they need to deploy capital. But they’re trying to be creative as possible in not only making sure they are competitive, but also protecting themselves from a downside scenario of a big interest rate move,” says Tracy.
Avid buyer interest
Rising interest rates could cool what has been a white-hot seller’s market for sale-leasebacks over the past year. However, industry participants are still optimistic about the near-term outlook. “While cap rates have risen, real estate is still at incredibly attractive levels for owner-operators to monetize their real estate in a sale-leaseback,” says Merkle. When one looks at sale-leaseback from a multiple perspective, multiples on real estate that might have been 15x are now 14x. Those numbers are really compelling for a business to execute a sale-leaseback when their business is worth multiples of say 8-10x, he adds.
SLB Capital Advisors has seen an uptick in pitch activity, inquiries from companies considering a sale-leaseback on assets, in recent weeks. “So, in spite of the pricing environment shifting rapidly over the past 45 days, we’re still in an environment where there is a ton of activity, and I expect to see a lot of continued sale-leaseback activity through the balance of the year,” says Merkle.
Another reason for that optimism is that there is still a significant amount of investor capital aimed at sale-leasebacks. “The buyer pools are more diverse and deeper than I have ever seen in my career, and that continues to put pressure on pricing and provides owners with great liquidity options,” notes Foster.
W.P. Carey Inc. alone recently announced that it had entered into $400 million in new investment agreements since the end of first quarter. The net lease REIT specializes in corporate sale-leasebacks, build-to-suits and the acquisition of single-tenant net lease properties.
In addition, more investors have entered the sale-leaseback market looking to acquire assets. “There has been a huge wall of capital looking to be deployed into sale-leasebacks. We’ve seen even more buyers step up to the plate over the last 12 months or so,” says Merkle. Some buyers are moving more cautiously, but there is still a lot of capital available for sale-leasebacks, he adds.