LTC Properties Reports Closing $7.9 Million in New Loans

LTC Properties Inc., an Oxnard-based real estate investment trust(REIT), has closed $7.9 million in new mortgage loans and has commitments to invest another $22 million or more in the next six weeks, the company reports.

Since its founding in August, 1992, LTC has invested about $120 million in its specialty, the long-term skilled nursing home industry, said Andre C. Dimitriadis, chairman and chief executive.

“Nursing homes aren’t a glamorous field like entertainment, but they’re stable and they offer a product that’s in high demand,” Dimitriadis said.

He noted that most residents of the homes in which LTC places funds are Medicare or Medicaid recipients--a factor that adds to the homes’ financial stability.

LTC’s stock, which had its initial public offering at $10 on the New York Stock Exchange, recently traded in the $14 range. Dimitriadis conceded that there’s talk on Wall Street that LTC’s annual dividend of $1 may be raised, but he declined to say whether the increase will take place.

The REIT’s most recent deals involve loans to nursing homes in Georgia, Michigan and Texas. The three loans have an initial interest rate of 11%.

Additional loans totaling between $22 million and $24 million will be made by the end of November, Dimitriadis said. “Borrowers find us attractive because we don’t demand to participate in revenues as many other health-care REITs do.”

Both Dimitriadis and the company’s president, William McBride III, are former financial officers with Beverly Enterprises Inc., the nation’s largest nursing home operator.

“One of us visits every facility in which we’re considering placing funds, and if it’s a large deal, we both go. We find that talking to the patients is the best way to find out whether a facility is well-run.”