After raising $108.7 million in capital from investors, Pacific Coast Business Times (PCBT) is reporting that LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC ) is well positioned to acquire new senior housing and long term care properties.
Analyst Richard Anderson of BMO Capital Markets told PCBT that the firm likely doesn’t want to draw too much attention to itself as it prepares to ramp up its acquisitions over the next few years. “They’re one of the most underleveraged businesses in the sector,” he said.
At the end of 2010, the company had $675.7 million in real estate investments in 30 states: 204 health and assisted-living properties and two schools.
LTC, which had $6.9 million in cash on the balance sheet at the end of 2010, would have access to about $110.3 million in additional cash and credit after the recent transactions.
The company has already ramped up buying, snapping up properties in Texas, South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi over the past year. Its assets grew from $490.6 million at the end of 2009 to $561.3 million a year later, a 14.4 percent increase.
The firm could likely acquire as much as $200 million in new properties without becoming over-leveraged, Anderson said.
“They like to operate in the regional neck of the woods,” he said. “There are smaller operations that move the needle for them but won’t earn the time of day for their larger peers.”
