- Carlo Santarelli most recently covered the gaming industry at Deutsche Bank
- He’s joining gaming REIT as a senior vice president
- Santarelli has more than 25 years of industry experience
Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ: GLPI) announced Tuesday it’s hired Carlo Santarelli, a name familiar to many in the casino gaming industry.
Santarelli was most recently the managing director of gaming and lodging equity research at Deutsche Bank. He’s joining the Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust on August 18 as senior vice president of corporate strategy and investor relations. In that role, he’ll report to GLPI President and Chief Operating Officer Brandon Moore.
Carlo brings to GLPI an in-depth knowledge of the industry and its participants, having experienced GLPI’s original formation of the gaming triple-net-REIT structure from a research analyst and capital markets perspective,” according to a statement issued by the casino landlord.
Santarelli graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in economics in 2000. Before his time at Deutsche Bank, he held similar jobs at Bear Stearns, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo. He was consistently rated among the top gaming analysts in the annual Institutional Investor surveys.
Santarelli Hiring Could Be a Coup for Gaming and Leisure
Shares of GLPI properties are off 1.92% year to date and 2.12% over the past year. Rival VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI), the other publicly traded casino REIT, has soundly beaten GLPI over both periods.
It’s not solely on Santarelli to boost his employer’s stock price, but investor relations executives can improve how a company’s story is told. Arguably, one of the issues that’s confounded GLPI shares over the past year is the REIT’s relationship with Bally’s — one of its largest tenants. While there have been no issues with rent collection on GLPI-owned gaming venues operated by Bally’s, market participants may have passed concerns about Bally’s financial health onto GLPI.
It’s possible that Santarelli and his team can reshape the conversation around GLPI, steering it toward more positive attributes, including steady revenue and consistent dividend growth, among other favorable factors.
“In his new role, Mr. Santarelli will work with Mr. Carlino and GLPI’s senior management to develop and evaluate growth opportunities and strategic relationships, and will oversee investor relations interactions,” added GLPI in the press release.
Speaking of GLPI Highlights…
Santarelli and his team won’t be stretched to shine a light on GLPI’s compelling characteristics because those are already in place. They include a robust product pipeline and a strong balance sheet.
In a new report, Citizens analyst Mitch Germain notes GLPI had over $2 billion in capital commitments at the end of the first quarter, with the bulk of that reserved for Bally’s and Penn Entertainment. As measured by debt/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) ratios, the GLPI balance sheet is firm.
“Management has maintained a strong low-levered balance sheet, with net debt/EBITDA at 4.7x at 1Q25 end (4.4x upon accounting for unsettled equity), well below its long-term target (mid-5x), allowing flexibility for future deployment,” observes Germain. “Approximately $410M of equity is expected to have been settled by mid-2025, providing ample cash to support the $375M of deployment incorporated into guidance.”
The post Former Analyst Santarelli Joining Gaming and Leisure Properties appeared first on Casino.org.
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