The beginning of November brought with it a lot of big news. Sorting through the mess that was the Brookdale Senior Living earnings announcement, which caused quite the buzz in the industry, we also noted the year’s second-largest transaction was announced. Private equity firm Blackstone Real Estate Partners is acquiring 64 Brookdale-operated seniors housing properties from HCP, Inc. for $1.125 billion, or about $188,500 per unit. That was for 100% of the ownership, but Brookdale will pay Blackstone $170 million for a 15% ownership interest in the joint venture, in addition to operating the portfolio on behalf of the joint venture. Occupancy across the portfolio averaged 85%, and the EBITDAR-to-rent coverage was 0.81x for the trailing 12 months ended September 30, 2016. The transaction will reduce HCP’s Brookdale concentration from 35% of its cash NOI plus interest income immediately post spin-off of Quality Care Properties to 27%. It will also improve HCP’s lease coverage on its Brookdale triple-net portfolio to 1.21x on a trailing 12-month basis, from 1.02x. HCP’s estimated gain on the sale of the 64 properties of approximately $160 million will be recorded at closing, which is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2017.