VICI Properties Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the VT Properties second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please note that this conference call is being recorded today, July 28th, 2022. I will now turn the call over to Samantha Gallagher, General Counsel with VT Properties.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning. Everyone should have access to the company's second quarter 2022 earnings release and supplemental information. The release and supplemental information can be found in the investor section of the VG Properties website at www.vgproperties.com. Some of our comments today will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements, which are usually identified by the use of words such as will, believe, expect, should, guidance, intends, outlook, Projects or other similar phrases are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Therefore, you should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on them. I refer you to the company's SEC filing for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact future operating results and financial conditions. During the call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available on our website in our second quarter 2022 earnings release and our supplemental information. For additional information with respect to non-GAAP measures of certain tenants and or counterparties discussed on this call, please refer to the respective company's public filings with the SEC. Hosting the call today, we have Ed Petoniak, Chief Executive Officer, John Payne, President and Chief Operating Officer, David Kieske, Chief Financial Officer, Gabe Wasserman, Chief Accounting Officer, and Danny Malloy, Vice President of Acquisitions and Finance. Ed and team will provide some opening remarks, and then we'll open the call to questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ed.

Thanks, Samantha, and good morning, everyone. Q2 2022 was a quintessentially VG quarter. A lot happened, a lot of continuing transformation as we worked to build VG into one of America's highest quality and largest scale REITs. Here's a quick recital of Q2's highlights. IG, in late April, VG was elevated to investment grade credit status by S&P and Fitch. IG fundraise, in late April, we conducted our inaugural investment grade debt raise, and that $5 billion raise was the largest debut enlarge a single IG debt raise by any REIT in history. It was a debt raise conducted in conjunction with the funding for MGP acquisition that proved the continuing energy and agility of David Kieske and the VG Finance team. As the Treasury swaps and locks that David and the team had put in place in late 2021 and early 2022 significantly reduced the net coupon of that debt. MGP closure In late April, we closed on our acquisition of the real estate of 15 MGM assets, magnificent examples of Class A real estate, thereby adding about $1 billion of new portfolio income and initiating our new partnership with MGM, a partnership we believe can grow substantially in the years ahead. S&P 500 inclusion. In early June, VG was added to the S&P 500, making VG the first American REIT in history to go from IPO to S&P 500 inclusion in less than five years. Pilgrimage experiences. In June, with Cabot Citrus Farms near Tampa, we announced what we believe will be the first of many capital and property partnerships with Cabot, a global leader in creating and operating pilgrimage resort golf experiences. Our third tribal nation partnership. In June, we also announced that Cherokee Nation Entertainment Gaming Holdings will become, in due course, our new operating partner in GoldStrike and Tunica, giving us yet another dynamic partner to grow with. These accomplishments significantly strengthened Vichy's growth, resources, capabilities, and opportunities. But there's one other key Q2 accomplishment, and that accomplishment is the growth of our Vichy leadership team. In early June, we added two very talented senior officers. Kellen Florio became our new chief investment officer, Moira McCluskey became our new Vice President, Capital Markets. Kellyn significantly adds to our ability to grow Vici's relationships and transactional activity with asset controllers, especially across non-gaming sectors, and Moira significantly strengthens our ability to further develop and sustain our relationships with capital providers, both equity and credit. Additionally, in June, we established the Vici Management Committee, to continue to broaden and deepen Vichy's strategic resources and reach. This committee of seven includes Gabe Wasserman, Jeremy Waxman, Danny Velloy, Elena Kyle, Cameron Lewis, Kellen Florio, and Mario McCluskey. The Vichy Management Committee, working with John, David, Samantha, and me, will play an integral role in developing and, moreover, ensuring the execution of Vichy's cultural, ESG, portfolio, and total return goals and strategies in the years to come. They will be integral to the development of our growth ideas and our growth relationships. And from the growth of our ideas and our relationships will come the creation of stakeholder value. In a moment, John will tell you more about our current growth activities, and David will talk about our financial results and our financial outlook. But first, let me say a few words about our current strategic outlook. As you will hear further from John, our operating partners are delivering outstanding operating results, especially along the Las Vegas Strip, where we gather about 45% of our portfolio income. But you wouldn't know this from how the equity and debt of our publicly listed partners are trading right now. Granted, trading values tend to be based on outlook rather than current performance, and both the sell and the buy sides are understandably concerned about a possible recession in the quarters ahead. But let me offer these three points. Point number one, gaming consumer resiliency. As we have discussed in the past, the gaming customer has proven to be more resilient through both garden variety recessions and full-blown crises than just about any other discretionary consumer out there. That was proven through both the great financial crisis and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Point number two, gaming operator resiliency. A couple of you on the sell side have produced well-reasoned analyses that show that gaming operators generally, and many of our partners specifically, will be in very solid shapes in terms of both free cash flow and balance sheet strength, even under fairly draconian recession scenarios in the year or so ahead. Our operators are responsive and agile in dealing with changing conditions. Both gaming consumer and gaming operator resiliency give Vici confidence in our belief that a possible recession will not harm the credit quality of our operators. But in the meantime, and this brings me to my third point, there is absolutely no question that the relative attractiveness of Vici's capital to both our current and potential operating partners in both gaming and non-gaming has only strengthened in the last few months. With our investment-grade credit status and our S&P 500 inclusion, Vici's access to and cost of capital has strengthened on a relative basis at a time when most experiential operators have seen their access to capital severely curtailed and the cost of any incremental capital significantly increased. As we proved with our Venetian acquisition, VG has the capability to move quickly and decisively in market conditions that may cause others to pause. Current and especially prospective market conditions could yield VG, we believe, highly attractive growth opportunities in the quarters ahead. And for the topic of growth, I'll now turn the call over to John Payne. John?