Brain Explains EPR's Re-branding Effort
11/14/2012
| by
Allen Kenney
David Brain, president and CEO of EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR), joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWorld 2012: NAREIT's Annual Convention at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.
EPR Properties, which is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a specialty REIT that currently invests in three primary segments: entertainment, recreation and education. The company has $3.1 billion in total investments and more than 250 tenants. Previously known as Entertainment Properties Trust, the company re-branded this month.
Brain spoke with REIT.com about the decision to re-brand. Brain said the company was prompted to change its name and re-brand based on the feeling that it had outgrown the Entertainment Properties Trust name, which reflected the firm's roots.
"We've developed the company beyond just a particularly cinema and limited entertainment focus, spanning now into the education and recreation areas in which we're investing. It was time to expand the identity of the company to conform with the portfolio we're developing," Brain said. "It has been brewing over the last couple of years, and it really finally came to a head and we decided it would be a good time to get it done, because we continue to have ambitions to expand the platform of the company."
Brain said EPR Properties is planning on approximately $300 million in acquisitions in 2013, roughly in line with 2012. He said the company doesn't plan to focus on any on particular category within its portfolio.
Brain has a background in investment banking. He discussed how that has affected his leadership of EPR.
"These have been extraordinary times. We're in a tremendously low interest-rate environment just comparing it back to my old days," Brain said. "I think the great thing about the company is really the great balance sheet that we have, and the capital markets are really wide open. I would tell you most of my clientele back in my investment banking days were dealing with more limitations than EPR Properties has today."