CHICAGO-Public REIT Ventas Inc. announced this morning that itwill acquire private REIT Lillibridge Healthcare Services Inc.,with ownership interest in about 95 medical office buildings, forbetween $300 million and $400 million. Both trusts are basedhere.

Ventas is one of the largest health care trusts, with more than500 properties in 43 states and two Canadian provinces. The trust’sbusiness model trends more toward senior housing and skillednursing facilities, with medical offices being only 5% of the sitesowned. This purchase adds much-needed property diversification toVentas, resulting in the trust managing or owning 154 medicaloffices with 8.4 million square feet in 20 states and Washington,DC. Lillibridge also is gaining in the deal, says CEO ToddLillibridge.

“This provides us access to Ventas’ enormous balance sheet. It’sall about growth in this business, and to do that you needcapital,” Lillibridge tells GlobeSt.com. “Going public is a greatcapital structure for us. This deal also gives us a breadth ofproperty types to work from, we can bring those solutions to ourclients.”