Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II, American Realty Capital Trust are raising dividends

In the second salvo in the nontraded REIT war between American Realty Capital and Grubb & Ellis, both real estate investment trusts said over the weekend that they are raising dividends to investors. Last week, Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II, which is in the middle of a management shake-up, said that it had rejected a hostile takeover bid from American Realty Healthcare Trust Inc. Now, both REITs are sweetening their pots in an effort to make them more attractive to investors. On Saturday, American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is increasing its “distribution rate,” or dividend, to 6.8%, from 6.6%, on an annualized basis, and based on a share price of $10. Grubb & Ellis Healthcare Trust, meanwhile, today announced a similar move, saying that its board Friday approved an increase of its distribution rate to 6.6%, from 6.5%. The increases are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The two REITs have been jockeying for position of late. Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II said in a regulatory filing last week that it had rejected an unsolicited, conditional offer from American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust to buy all the REIT's outstanding shares at $9.01 a share in cash and shares. The Grubb & Ellis REIT is raising money from investors at $10 a share. The unsolicited offer by American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust, made Dec. 1, is thought to be the first such hostile-takeover bid in the industry, which is on pace to raise $9 billion from investors this year. “The operational performance of our company has been consistently strong, which has allowed us to increase our distributions while maintaining disciplined fiscal management,” Danny Prosky, president and chief operating officer of the Grubb & Ellis REIT, said in a statement. The move comes just weeks after a big shake-up at the Grubb & Ellis REIT. As reported last month, Healthcare REIT II's board said that it was changing sponsors, essentially dumping Grubb & Ellis and replacing it with Griffin Capital Securities Inc. and the newly formed American Healthcare Investors LLC. The Grubb & Ellis REIT, which launched in 2009, raised $451.5 million from investors through November. American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust, which was launched in June, had raised more than $50 million by the end of last month.