Health Care REIT, Inc. Completes $632.5 Million Common Stock Offering

Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN) today announced it has successfully completed its public offering of 12,650,000 shares of common stock at a price of $50.00 per share for total gross proceeds of $632.5 million. Total shares sold includes 1,650,000 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise in full of their option to purchase additional shares to cover over-allotments.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including investing in health care and seniors housing properties and repaying borrowings under the company’s unsecured line of credit and other outstanding indebtedness.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. Deutsche Bank Securities, J.P. Morgan, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo Securities acted as co-lead managers.

The offering was made pursuant to Health Care REIT’s shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A copy of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained by contacting BofA Merrill Lynch, 4 World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, Attn: Prospectus Department or by email to dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com or by contacting Morgan Stanley, 180 Varick Street, 2^nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, Attn: Prospectus Department, telephone (866) 718-1649, or by email to prospectus@morganstanley.com.

This press release is not an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction.

About Health Care REIT, Inc. Health Care REIT, Inc., an S&P 500 company with headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is a real estate investment trust that invests across the full spectrum of seniors housing and health care real estate. The company also provides an extensive array of property management and development services. As of September 30, 2011, the company’s broadly diversified portfolio consisted of 898 properties in 45 states.

This document may contain "forward-looking” statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When the company uses words such as "may,” "will,” "intend,” "should,” "believe,” "expect,” "anticipate,” "project,” "estimate” or similar expressions, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect current plans and expectations and are based on information currently available. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in the prospectus supplement and related prospectus and in the company’s other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements.