VICI Properties Adds Two New Senior Members

VICI Properties Inc., a prominent real estate investment trust, announced Wednesday that it is appointing two new members to key positions. Kellan Florio will assume the role of chief investment officer and senior vice president, while Moira McCloskey will become vice president, of capital markets.

VICI is currently the largest casino REIT (Gaming real estate investment trust) and the biggest landlord in Las Vegas. Its portfolio includes 43 casinos, 450 restaurants, multiple bars, and clubs, as well as four large golf courses. The investment trust aims to create the highest quality and most productive real estate portfolio in the USA.

Great Hires with Significant Industry Experience

Kellan Florio, VICI’s newly appointed VP, has 15 years of experience working for Goldman Sachs, a real estate investment banking group. His job was to advise businesses on large volume mergers, acquisitions, and capital raising transactions. Florio’s work was directly related to the real estate, lodging, and gaming industries. He previously held the position of Managing Director, Global Head of Lodging & Leisure Investment Banking before joining VICI.

John Payne, President, and Chief Operating Officer at VICI welcomed this new addition to his team. He noted that “Kellan’s extensive experience and long-standing relationships in experiential real estate sectors make him a strong addition,” and stated his hope that the new senior VP will use his experience to help VICI excel even further. 

Kellan Florio also expressed his excitement to assume this new position and emphasized his previous experience working closely with VICI. “Experiential operators across multiple sectors, domestically and internationally, have significant growth opportunities, and VICI can and will be a major source of growth capital for these operators,” Florio added.

VICI’s other new hire, Moira McCloskey, previously held the position of Managing Director in the Equity Capital Markets group at Bank of America Securities. She has over 15 years of experience in the sector and was involved in equity capital raising advisory and execution for companies in the real estate, gaming, lodging, and leisure industries. McCloskey also worked as a trader and risk manager for Bank of America Securities’ Equity Cash Trading group and specialized in real estate and financial services.

McCloskey will manage VICI’s capital markets initiatives and use her experience to expand relationships and help the investment trust raise new capital across domestic and international debt and equity markets. David Kieske, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, lauded McCloskey’s deep understanding of VICI’s business model, investor base, and objectives. “We firmly believe that her knowledge and industry reputation and connectivity will provide VICI with added expertise as we grow and access accretive capital in the future,” he commented. 

McCloskey was also looking forward to her new position at VICI. “It is very exciting to be joining at a time when the company will be defining its next chapter, having recently closed its acquisition of MGP,” she added and reaffirmed her readiness to lend her experience and help VICI accomplish its future goals. 
The two new hires come during a high point for VICI. The REIT recently attracted the attention of Steve Cohen, owner of the hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, who bought 633,800 shares in the investment trust.