Health Care REIT Reaps $1B from Offering - Analyst Blog

Health Care REIT Inc. HCN garnered around $1.0 billion in proceeds from a public offering to strengthen its liquidity position. Notably, based on the reaped amount, this is the largest overnight-marketed SEC registered share offering in 2014 by any company, to date.

In particular, the company offered 16.1 million shares at $62.35 each, which includes 2.1 million shares sold upon exercising the underwriters' right to purchase additional stocks. Health Care REIT expects to use the generated proceeds from this offering to pay off advances under its main unsecured credit facility as well as meet investment needs in health care and seniors housing assets.

A consortium of financial institutions such as – JPMorgan Chase & Co.JPM, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS and Morgan Stanley MS – assisted the company in this public offering.

For Health Care REIT, whose cash and cash equivalents stand at $185.9 million as of Mar 31, 2014, the payment of debt is encouraging, as it would reduce interest expenses. However, the shares dilution effect of this offering cannot be avoided. Nevertheless, strategic investments will help Health Care REIT to enhance its portfolio quality, which in turn will boost its top-line growth going forward.

In view of this, Health Care REIT recently stated its projected acquisition pipeline of around $414 million of seniors housing and medical office assets for second-quarter 2014. This was based on the acquisition completions and deals inked so far. The move was aimed at strengthening the company's focus on high-barriers-to-entry affluent markets around the world.

Health Care REIT currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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