SNH Prices 10M Stock Offering

Senior Housing Properties Trust ( SNH - Snapshot Report ) – a real estate investment trust (REIT) – has priced public offering of 10 million common shares at $23.80 per share. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 1.5 million additional shares. The offering is scheduled to close on Jan 28, 2013.

The move comes as part of the company’s effort to generate cash to repay debt and utilize for general corporate purposes. Particularly, Senior Housing plans to use the proceeds from this public offering to pay down all or part of its outstanding borrowings under its existing revolving credit facility and facilitate further acquisitions.

The joint book-running managers for the common share offering were Jefferies Group Inc. ( ) , Citigroup Inc. ( C - Analyst Report ) and Wells Fargo Securities – a division of Wells Fargo & Company ( WFC - Analyst Report ) . BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and UBS Investment Bank acted as the joint lead managers.

For Senior Housing, payback of debt is encouraging as it would lessen interest expenses. Moreover, the use of funds for strategic acquisitions would help the company enhance its portfolio quality, which in turn could be accretive to its earnings going forward.

Newton, Massachusetts-based Senior Housing has one of the most diversified portfolios in the healthcare sector with exposure to nearly all types of facilities. The company invests in hospitals, nursing homes, senior apartments, independent living properties, and assisted living properties. As of Sep 30, 2012, the company owned 384 properties in 40 states and Wa.

Senior Housing currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).