One of the nation’s leading companies in owning health buildings has decided that a name change is in order to better reflect its evolving mission and get more in sync with the changing business model.
Toledo-based Health Care REIT Inc.’s decision to rename itself Welltower Inc. is as much about branding as anything.
ATTACHMENT: CEO Thomas DeRosa's letter to employees
But the company, which manages $26 billion in assisted living and acute-care facilities from its headquarters on Dorr Street, saw a stronger need to distinguish itself from the growing general real estate investment trust, or REIT, market that has grown with competitors in recent years, Thomas J. DeRosa, the company’s chief executive officer, told The Blade Monday.
“We believe we drive much more value than owning or maintaining their real estate,” Mr. DeRosa said of the company’s health-care industry clients.
The official name change occurs Wednesday. The company’s public stock will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HCN. That symbol could change later, Mr. DeRosa said.
He said Health Care REIT’s name “was too generic,” given the REIT industry’s growth.
“It’s time for our name to reflect who we are,” he said.
The CEO made the decision known to employees in a letter on Monday and is expected to join other officials at a ceremony, showing off the new company logo, at an event today at its headquarters. A public announcement is planned for Wednesday.
Why Welltower?
The first half of the new name represents wellness. Towers, Mr. DeRosa added, are pillars of strength.
The company wants to project an image of crosscutting services built on solid foundations that are vertically integrated.
“It speaks to our financial strength,” he said. “We are a true partner with the operators.”
Welltower anticipates the need for more services as Baby Boomers age and medical advances allow people to live longer, Mr. DeRosa said. Markets are likely to grow stronger for supplemental or alternative care, including more outpatient facilities, as costs for acute hospitalization continue to escalate.
He added, “I want us to be a champion with respect to Alzheimer’s [disease].”
Welltower, one of Ohio’s largest publicly traded companies, has nearly 500 employees. About 200 of them work at its Toledo headquarters. It also has offices in Jupiter, Fla., London, Toronto, and Newport Beach, Calif., among its largest satellite locations.
About two-thirds of its business is in ownership or management of senior living communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The name change has been in the works for about a year, Mr. DeRosa said.
The company was founded in 1970 in Lima, Ohio, as Health Care Fund. It became Health Care REIT in 1985, about eight years before changing economics of the health-care industry opened the door for more REIT businesses, the CEO said.
“I think the future is about connectivity. It’s about connecting health-care providers,” Mr. DeRosa said.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.
First Published September 29, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
