VICI Properties (VICI) 10-Q2024 Q2 Quarterly report

This report combines the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 of VICI Properties Inc. and VICI Properties L.P. Unless stated otherwise or the context otherwise requires, references to “VICI” mean VICI Properties Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, including VICI Properties OP LLC (“VICI OP”), and references to “VICI LP” mean VICI Properties L.P. and its consolidated subsidiaries. Unless stated otherwise or the context otherwise requires, the terms “the Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” mean VICI and VICI LP, including, collectively, their consolidated subsidiaries.

In order to highlight the differences between VICI and VICI LP, the separate sections in this report for VICI and VICI LP described below specifically refer to VICI and VICI LP. In the sections that combine disclosure of VICI and VICI LP, this report refers to actions or holdings of VICI and VICI LP as being “our” actions or holdings. Although VICI LP is the entity that generally, directly or indirectly, enters into contracts and joint ventures, holds assets and incurs debt, we believe that references to “we,” “us” or “our” in this context is appropriate because the business is one enterprise and we operate substantially all of our business and own, either directly or through subsidiaries, substantially all of our assets through VICI LP.

VICI is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that is the sole owner of VICI Properties GP LLC, the sole general partner of VICI LP. As of June 30, 2024, VICI owns 100% of the limited liability company interests of VICI Properties HoldCo LLC (“HoldCo”), which in turn owns approximately 98.8% of the limited liability company interest of VICI OP (such interests, “VICI OP Units”), our operating partnership, which in turns owns 100% of the limited partnership interest in VICI LP. The balance of the VICI OP Units not held by HoldCo are held by third-party unit holders.

The following diagram details VICI’s organizational structure as of June 30, 2024.

We believe combining the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q of VICI and VICI LP into this single report:

We operate VICI and VICI LP as one business. Because VICI LP is managed by VICI, and VICI conducts substantially all of its operations and owns, either directly or through subsidiaries, substantially all of its assets indirectly through VICI LP, VICI’s executive officers are VICI LP’s executive officers, although, as a partnership, VICI LP does not have a board of directors.

We believe it is important to understand the few differences between VICI and VICI LP in the context of how VICI and VICI LP operate as a consolidated company. VICI is a REIT whose only material assets are its indirect interest in VICI LP, through which it conducts its real property business. VICI also conducts its golf course business through a taxable REIT subsidiary (a “TRS”), VICI Golf LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“VICI Golf”). As a result, VICI does not conduct business itself other than issuing public equity from time to time and does not directly incur any material indebtedness, rather VICI LP

holds substantially all of our assets, except for those held in VICI Golf. Except for net proceeds from public equity issuances by VICI, VICI LP generates all capital required by the Company’s business, which sources include VICI LP’s operations and its direct or indirect incurrence of indebtedness.

VICI consolidates VICI LP for financial reporting purposes, and VICI does not have material assets other than its indirect investment in VICI LP. Therefore, while there are some areas of difference between the unaudited consolidated financial statements of VICI and those of VICI LP, the assets and liabilities of VICI and VICI LP are materially the same on their respective financial statements. As of June 30, 2024, the primary areas of difference between the unaudited consolidated financial statements of VICI and those of VICI LP were cash and cash equivalents, stockholders’ equity and partners’ capital, non-controlling interests and golf operations, which include the assets and liabilities and income and expenses of VICI Golf.

To help investors understand the differences between VICI and VICI LP, this report provides:

The separate discussions of VICI and VICI LP in this report should be read in conjunction with each other to understand our results on a consolidated basis and how management operates our business.

We are primarily engaged in the business of owning and acquiring gaming, hospitality and entertainment destinations, subject to long-term triple-net leases. As of June 30, 2024, we own 93 experiential assets across a geographically diverse portfolio consisting of 54 gaming properties and 39 other experiential properties across the United States and Canada, including Caesars Palace Las Vegas, MGM Grand and the Venetian Resort Las Vegas (the “Venetian Resort”), three of the most iconic entertainment facilities on the Las Vegas Strip. Our gaming and entertainment facilities are leased to leading brands that seek to drive consumer loyalty and value with guests through superior services, experiences, products and continuous innovation. VICI also owns four championship golf courses, which are managed by CDN Golf Management Inc., and are located near certain of our properties.

VICI, the parent company, is a Maryland corporation and internally managed REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Our real property business, which represents the substantial majority of our assets, is conducted through VICI OP and indirectly through VICI LP and our golf course business, VICI Golf, is conducted through a direct wholly owned TRS of VICI. As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes on our taxable income to the extent that we annually distribute all of our net taxable income to stockholders and maintain our qualification as a REIT.

The accompanying Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information set forth in the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”), as published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), and with the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Financial Statements, including the notes thereto, are unaudited and condense or exclude some of the disclosures and information normally required in audited financial statements.

All adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement of results for the interim period have been included, and are of a normal and recurring nature. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates.

Operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2024.

We present non-controlling interests and classify such interests as a component of consolidated stockholders’ equity or partners’ capital, separate from VICI stockholders’ equity and VICI LP partners’ capital. As of June 30, 2024, VICI’s non-controlling interests represent approximately 1.2% third-party ownership of VICI OP in the form of a limited liability company interest in VICI OP (“VICI OP Units”), a 20% third-party ownership of Harrah’s Joliet LandCo LLC, the entity that owns the Harrah’s Joliet facility and is the lessor under the related lease agreement with Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (together with, as the context requires, its subsidiaries, “Caesars”) for such facility (“Joliet Lease”) and a 5.6% third-party equity ownership, in the form of Class A Units, of VICI Bowl HoldCo LLC (“Bowlero OP Units”), the entity that owns the portfolio of bowling entertainment centers leased to Bowlero Corp. (“Bowlero”) and is the lessor under the related Bowlero master lease agreement. As VICI OP is a parent entity of VICI LP, VICI LP’s only non-controlling interests are the third-party ownership interests in Harrah’s Joliet LandCo LLC and VICI Bowl HoldCo referenced above.

Cash consists of cash-on-hand and cash-in-bank. Highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less from the date of purchase are considered cash equivalents and are carried at cost, which approximates fair value. As of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, we did not have any restricted cash.

Investments with an original maturity of greater than three months and less than one year from the date of purchase are considered short-term investments and are stated at fair value.

We may invest our excess cash in short-term investment grade commercial paper as well as discount notes issued by government-sponsored enterprises including the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and certain of the Federal Home Loan Banks. These investments generally have original maturities between 91 and 180 days and are accounted for as available for sale securities. Interest on our short-term investments is recognized as interest income in our Statement of Operations. We did not have any short-term investments as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.

We assess all of our property acquisitions under ASC 805 “Business Combinations” (“ASC 805”) to determine if such acquisitions should be accounted for as a business combination or an asset acquisition. Under ASC 805, an acquisition does not qualify as a business combination when (i) substantially all of the fair value is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or group of similar identifiable assets, (ii) the acquisition does not include a substantive process in the form of an acquired workforce, or (iii) the acquisition does not include an acquired contract that cannot be replaced without significant cost, effort or delay. Generally, and to date, all of our acquisitions have been determined to be asset acquisitions and, in accordance with ASC 805-50, all applicable transaction costs are capitalized as part of the purchase price of the acquisition.

We allocate the purchase price, including the costs incurred to acquire the assets, to the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, as applicable, using their relative fair value. Generally, the assets acquired are comprised of land, building and site improvements and in certain instances, such as our acquisition of MGM Growth Properties LLC (“MGP”) and the acquisition of the joint venture that holds the real estate assets of MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay (“MGM Grand/Mandalay Bay JV”), existing leases and/or debt. Further, since all the components of our leases are classified as sales-type leases or financing receivables, as further described below, the assets acquired are transferred into the net investment in lease or financing receivable, as applicable.

In accordance with ASC 842, for transactions in which we enter into a contract to acquire an asset and lease it back to the seller under a lease classified as a sales-type lease (i.e., a sale leaseback transaction), control of the asset is not considered to have transferred to us. As a result, we do not recognize the net investment in the lease but instead recognize a financial asset in accordance with ASC 310 “Receivables” (“ASC 310”); however, the accounting for the financing receivable under ASC 310 is materially consistent with the accounting for our investments in leases - sales-type under ASC 842.

We assess the noncancelable lease term under ASC 842, which includes any reasonably certain renewal periods. All of our lease agreements provide for an initial term, with one or more tenant renewal options.

In relation to our gaming assets and certain other irreplaceable real estate, we generally conclude that the lease term includes all of the periods covered by extension options as it is reasonably certain our tenants will renew the lease agreements. In these situations, we believe our tenants are economically compelled to renew the lease agreements due to the importance of our real estate to the operation of their business, the significant capital they have invested and are required to invest in our properties under the terms of the lease agreements and the lack of suitable replacement assets.

Initial direct costs incurred in connection with entering into investments classified as sales-type leases are included in the balance of the net investment in lease. Such amounts will be recognized as a reduction to Income from investments in leases over the life of the lease using the effective interest method. Costs that would have been incurred regardless of whether the lease was signed, such as legal fees and certain other third-party fees, are expensed as incurred to Transaction and acquisition expenses in our Statement of Operations.

Loan origination fees and costs incurred in connection with entering into investments classified as lease financing receivables are included in the balance of the net investment and such amounts will be recognized as a reduction to Income from investments in loans and lease financing receivables over the life of the lease using the effective interest method.

Investments in loans are held-for-investment and are carried at historical cost, inclusive of unamortized loan origination costs and fees and net of allowances for credit losses. Income is recognized on an effective interest basis at a constant rate of return over the life of the related loan.

We classify our investments in securities on the date of acquisition of the investment as either trading, available-for-sale or held-to-maturity. We classify our debt securities as held-to-maturity, as we have the intent and ability to hold this security until maturity, the accounting of which is materially consistent with that of our Investments in loans.

ASC 326 “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses” (“ASC 326”) requires that we measure and record current expected credit losses (“CECL”) for the majority of our investments, the scope of which includes our Investments in leases - sales-type, Investments in leases - financing receivables and Investments in loans and securities.

In relation to our lease portfolio, we have elected to use a discounted cash flow model to estimate the allowance for credit losses, or CECL allowance, for our Investments in leases - sales-type and Investments in leases - financing receivables, which comprise the substantial majority of our CECL allowance. This model requires us to develop cash flows which project estimated credit losses over the life of the lease and discount these cash flows at the asset’s effective interest rate. We then record a CECL allowance equal to the difference between the amortized cost basis of the asset and the present value of the expected credit loss cash flows.

Expected losses within our cash flows are determined by estimating the probability of default (“PD”) and loss given default (“LGD”) of our tenants and their parent guarantors, as applicable, over the life of each individual lease. We have engaged a nationally recognized data analytics firm to assist us with estimating both the PD and LGD of our tenants and their parent guarantors, as applicable. The PD and LGD are estimated during a reasonable and supportable period for which we believe we are able to estimate future economic conditions (the “R&S Period”) and a long-term period for which we revert to long-term historical averages (the “Long-Term Period”). The PD and LGD estimates for the R&S Period are developed using the current financial condition of the tenant and parent guarantor, as applicable, and applied to a projection of economic conditions over a two-year term. The PD and LGD for the Long-Term Period are estimated using the average historical default rates and historical loss rates, respectively, of public companies over approximately the past 40 years that have similar credit profiles or characteristics to our tenants and their parent guarantors, as applicable. We are unable to use our historical data to estimate losses as we have no loss history to date.

In relation to our loan portfolio, we engage a nationally recognized data analytics firm to provide loan level market data and a forward-looking commercial real estate loss forecasting tool. The credit loss model generates the PD and LGD using sub-market loan-level data and the estimated fair value of collateral to generate net operating income and forecast the expected loss for each loan.

We are required to estimate a CECL allowance related to contractual commitments to extend credit, such as future funding commitments under a revolving credit facility, delayed draw term loan, construction loan or through commitments made to our tenants to fund the development and construction of improvements at our properties. We estimate the amount that we will fund for each contractual commitment based on (i) discussions with our borrowers and tenants, (ii) our borrowers’ and tenants’ business plans and financial condition and (iii) other relevant factors. Based on these considerations, we apply a CECL allowance to the estimated amount of credit we expect to extend. The CECL allowance for unfunded commitments is calculated using the same methodology as the allowance for the respective investments subject to the CECL model. The CECL allowance related to these future commitments is recorded as a component of Other liabilities on our Balance Sheets.

The initial CECL allowance is recorded as a reduction to our net Investments in leases - sales-type, Investments in leases - financing receivables, Investments in loans and securities and Sales-type sub-leases (included in Other assets) on our Balance Sheets. We are required to update our CECL allowance on a quarterly basis with the resulting change being recorded in the Statement of Operations for the relevant period. Finally, each time we make a new investment in an asset subject to ASC 326, we are required to record an initial CECL allowance for such asset, which results in a non-cash charge to the Statement of Operations for the relevant period.

Write-offs of our investments in leases and loans are deducted from the allowance in the period in which they are deemed uncollectible. Recoveries of amounts previously written off are recorded when received. There were no charge-offs or recoveries for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023.

Our investments in our Canadian gaming assets and certain of our loans are denominated in foreign currencies and, accordingly, we translate the financial statements of the subsidiaries’ that own such assets into U.S. Dollars (“USD” or “US$”) when we consolidate their financial results and position. Generally, assets and liabilities are translated at the exchange rate in effect at the date of the Balance Sheet and the resulting translation adjustments are included in Accumulated other comprehensive income in the Balance Sheets. Certain balance sheet items, primarily equity and capital-related accounts, are reflected at the historical exchange rate. Income Statement accounts are translated using the average exchange rate for the period.

We and certain of our consolidated subsidiaries have intercompany and third-party debt that is denominated in foreign currencies, which is not our and our consolidated subsidiaries functional currency of USD. When the debt and related operating receivables and/or payables are remeasured to the functional currency of the entity, a gain or loss can result. The resulting adjustment is reflected in Other (losses) gains, net in the Statement of Operations.

Other income primarily represents sub-lease income related to certain ground and use leases. Under the lease agreements, the tenants are required to pay all costs associated with such ground and use leases and provides for their direct payment to the landlord. This income and the related expense are recorded on a gross basis in our Statement of Operations as required under GAAP as we are the primary obligor under these certain ground and use leases.

We measure the fair value of financial instruments based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. As a basis for considering market participant assumptions in fair value measurements, a fair value hierarchy distinguishes between market participant assumptions based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity and the reporting entity’s own assumptions about market participant assumptions. In accordance with the fair value hierarchy, Level 1 assets/liabilities are valued based on quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets, Level 2 assets/liabilities are valued based on quoted prices in active markets for similar instruments, on quoted prices in less active or inactive markets or on other “observable” market inputs, and Level 3 assets/liabilities are valued based significantly on “unobservable” market inputs.

We record our derivative financial instruments as either Other assets or Other liabilities on our Balance Sheet at fair value.

The accounting for changes in the fair value of derivatives depends on the intended use of the derivative, whether we elected to designate a derivative in a hedging relationship and apply hedge accounting and whether the hedging relationship has satisfied the criteria necessary to apply hedge accounting. Derivatives designated and qualifying as a hedge of the exposure to variability in expected future cash flows are considered cash flow hedges. We formally document our hedge relationships and designation at the contract’s inception. This documentation includes the identification of the hedging instruments and the hedged items, its risk management objectives, strategy for undertaking the hedge transaction and our evaluation of the effectiveness of its hedged transaction.

As of June 30, 2024, our real estate portfolio consisted of the following:

The following table details the components of our income from sales-type leases and lease financing receivables:

At June 30, 2024, minimum lease payments owed to us for each of the five succeeding years and thereafter under sales-type leases and our leases accounted for as financing receivables, are as follows: