Alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital agreed to buy healthcare landlord Sila Realty Trust in a $2.4 billion all‑cash deal, extending a shift this year from private capital investing in companies to a preference for properties.
The deal marks another high‑profile take‑private move in the U.S. real estate investment trust market, and it comes as private credit funds work to attract new money at a time when existing investors are looking to cash out, redeeming their shares at an accelerating pace.
Affiliates of Blue Owl Real Estate Capital plan to acquire all outstanding shares of the Tampa, Florida‑based REIT for $30.38 per share, the companies said Monday. The deal is set to make Sila a private company just two years after it began trading publicly, and Sila shares surged 19 percent after the deal was announced.
The transaction underscores how quickly newly formed public REITs with relatively small stock market values can become takeover targets. Sila went public in June 2024 at $22.70 per share, allowing early investors to exit at a significant premium.
Sila owns a national portfolio of healthcare real estate, including hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities and other medical properties. The company focuses on net‑lease assets, a structure in which tenants cover most operating costs, supporting steady rent streams and predictable cash flow.
Sila President and CEO Michael Seton said the transaction rewards shareholders and validates the firm's strategy, adding that management conducted a strategic review before selecting Blue Owl, overseeing more than $307 billion in assets, to deliver "significant and immediate realized benefit" to shareholders.
Seton has previously said Sila attracted acquisition interest even before going public. During the company's February earnings call, he noted that outreach from potential buyers had continued as the REIT's investor base shifted from entirely individual investors to roughly 70% institutional ownership.
Blue Owl sees demand in healthcare real estate
The offer is 19% more than the company's Friday closing share price and nearly 26% higher than its 30‑day volume‑weighted average price.
Blue Owl executives said the deal aligns with the firm's long‑term view of healthcare real estate as a durable investment.
The company is acquiring "one of the best-in-class healthcare net lease portfolios in the market," Marc Zahr, co-president and global head of real assets at Blue Owl, said in a statement. He cited strong tenants, long leases and properties that serve "critically important healthcare needs."
Blue Owl has said private capital can unlock value in essential sectors beyond headline-grabbing data centers. In a recent webcast, the firm pointed to healthcare as a resilient sector supported by long-term demand.
The Sila acquisition adds momentum to a busy year for REIT mergers and acquisitions, as public real estate companies face pressure from volatile equity markets. Higher interest rates and cautious investors have weighed on share prices, even as fundamentals across several property types remain relatively stable.
Earlier this month, Ares Management agreed to take Whitestone REIT private in a $1.7 billion transaction. Separately, a consortium of Blackstone Real Estate, MW Group and DivcoWest announced plans to acquire Alexander & Baldwin, Hawaii's largest grocery-anchored retail landlord.
Mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. publicly traded equity REITs totaled $16.77 billion through mid-April, with the bulk of transactions involving take‑privates, according to bond rating firm S&P Global. Many buyers are targeting companies whose share prices trade below the value implied by their real estate portfolios.
Valuation gap creates investment opportunities
At the end of the first quarter, equity REITs traded at a median 19.3% discount to consensus net asset value, according to S&P, with office, timber and hotel REITs showing the widest gaps. Healthcare REITs, by comparison, were trading at a median 5.8% discount to net asset value.
For private managers such as Blue Owl, that valuation gap creates an opportunity to acquire real estate portfolios at prices public markets have been slow to reward and hold them outside the constraints of quarterly earnings scrutiny.
Sila's board unanimously approved the deal. The companies expect the transaction to close in the second or third quarter, subject to shareholder approval and customary conditions.
Sila owned 137 properties and three land parcels across 65 U.S. markets as of March 31, with almost all of its holdings in healthcare real estate.
Earlier this year, the company acquired a 53,122-square-foot inpatient rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma City for $43.1 million.
The property, built in 2022 and recently expanded to 58 beds, is fully leased to Oklahoma City Rehabilitation Hospital, a subsidiary of Nobis Rehabilitation Holdings, under a long‑term, absolute‑net lease.