Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: Can I please have your opinion on HealthLease Properties REIT? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

HealthLease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, $9.47 symbol HLP.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 25.9 million; Market cap: $245.3 million; www.hlpreit.com), owns 42 retirement homes and senior-care facilities in Canada and the U.S. with a total of 4,344 beds. The REIT does not operate these facilities. Instead, it rents them out to operators under long-term leases. The operators are responsible for each building’s property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. HealthLease took its current form on April 12, 2012, and sold 11.0 million units to the public for $10.00 each on June 20, 2012. It then used the proceeds to buy eight seniors’ homes. The REIT continues make acquisitions. In August 2013, it paid $147.3 million for 12 properties in three U.S. states and Alberta that include 963 beds. In September 2013, it added Wellbrook of Avon, a 100-unit facility in Indiana, for $17.1 million. In the three months ended September 30, 2013, HealthLease’s revenue jumped to $12.3 million from $4.6 million a year earlier,…