VICI Properties Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the VG Properties second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Please note that this conference is being recorded today, July 30th, 2026. I will now turn the call over to Samantha Gallagher, General Counsel with VG Properties.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning. Everyone should have access to the company's second quarter 2026 earnings release and supplemental information. The release and supplemental information can be found in the Investors section of the VT Properties website at www.vtproperties.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 filings 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. The reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available on our website and our second quarter 2026 earnings release and our supplemental information and our filings with the SEC. For additional information with respect to non-GAAP measures of certain tenants and or counterparties discussed on this call, please refer to a respective company's public filings with the SEC. Hosting the call today, we have Ed Pitoniak, Chief Executive Officer, John Payne, President and Chief Operating Officer, David Kieske, Chief Financial Officer, Jeremy Waxman, Chief Accounting Officer, Dave Blockerman, Managing Director of Business Development and VECS, and Moira McCloskey, Senior Vice President of Capital Markets. Ed and team will provide some opening remarks, and then we will open the call to questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ed. Thank you, Samantha, and good morning, everyone.

And for the analysts on the call, we are especially grateful for your presence today because we know that yesterday after market, you dealt with an absolute flood of earnings releases in your coverage area. So again, thank you. In the next few minutes, you'll hear from John Payne on our growth outlook and activities and from David Kieske on our financial results, liquidity, and updated 2026 earnings guidance. To start, I'd like to spend a moment or two talking about how we think about Talk about and manage the growth of our business. You've heard us say before, frequently, that we grow our business by growing our relationships, by growing new relationships and growing the scale of existing relationships. Today, I'd like to take you deeper inside our approach to relationship building, and to do that, I'll tell you the story of our new relationship with Club Med, which we announced back in June with the news of our investment in St. Croix. We first began getting to know Club Med in 2025, and it's important to understand how we came to be connected with Club Med. The connection was not direct. In this case, it wasn't about calling up their global headquarters in Paris, nor their North American Caribbean headquarters in Miami. Though, believe me, we do regularly make cold calls on experiential operators. We did not receive a flyer saying there was a Club Med property or a Club Med opportunity for sale. We did not get connected through bankers or brokers. We connected with Club Med through a company that will remain nameless. This is a leisure and hospitality company we've been courting for partnerships since just about the birth of Vichy. To date, we haven't been able to find the right opportunity with them, though to be sure, we won't stop trying. We've always worked hard to make our conversations with this unnamed company meaningful and collegial and frequent. In 2025, Club Med asked this unnamed company who they, Club Med, might partner with for financing of the St. Croix opportunity they were pursuing. The unnamed company said to Club Med, we should connect you with our friends in Vichy. And thus, in 2025, Club Med connected with John Payne and Aaron Ferrari to get a conversation started. When we commence a conversation with a potential new partner, we are not in sales mode. We are in learning mode. With Club Med, John, Aaron, and Matt Perkins and other members of the VG team set about seeking to understand Club Med's needs, financial, strategic, and cultural needs, not only in St. Croix, but into the future that Club Med envisions for itself. This is an approach that takes time, but we believe in its approach consistently. that leads to the strongest foundations upon which to grow together. And in this case, St. Croix became the foundation upon which we are building our relationship. When we first announced our new partnership with Club Med and our acquisition of the St. Croix property, the reaction from some was sort of a small deal. I'll offer a couple of quick thoughts on that take. First of all, the total projected investment of $75 million into one property is pretty meaningful by net lease standards The typical net lease property tends to cost low single-digit millions. Secondly, and to reemphasize the point, when we make a first investment with a new partner, we are highly focused on the foundation we are building for potential future investment. Two weeks ago, a number of us on the VT team experienced this strong foundation when we joined our Club Med partners on the north shore of St. Croix for what Club Med calls its first stone ceremony. This ceremony celebrated the ecosystem of relationships that Club Med builds before it creates, and in order to create, great experiential resorts. The Club Med team of global CEOs Stefan McClure, North American Caribbean CEO and President Caroline Doyon, and North American Caribbean Senior Vice President of Development Eileen Kett brought together the St. Croix governmental, tourism, and developmental officials who've been and will continue to be instrumental in supporting the resort redevelopment, both strategically and financially, as well as the contractors who over the next 18 months or so will restore this resort to the glory originally envisioned by Lawrence Rockefeller while making it a distinctly Club Med experience. What I witnessed on St. Croix made me proud of the new partnership we've created with Club Med and excited for what together will contribute to St. Croix's competitiveness as an experiential destination. What was also clear to me that day in St. Croix is the energy, creativity, and passion that Club Med brings to its growth activities. And with Club Med having a stated goal of growing its portfolio of destinations from 60 to 100 over the next few years, I'm hopeful and excited that Vichy will find ways to be supportive of and participative in that growth. If we do, it's because we will continue to grow our relationship with Club Med With that growth, relying on our working every day to understand and better serve their needs, which is what we strive to do with every one of our growth partners. And with that, I'll turn the call over to John.