Wendy Simpson
Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead
Thank you, Pam and Clint. As I mentioned earlier and as you are aware, our industry is facing several headwinds that have made it somewhat difficult to substantially grow our portfolio through new investments. A number of deals we evaluated have not met our investment hurdles. In fact, we passed on a $40 million deal this quarter included in our pipeline last quarter resulting from issues identified during due diligence. Sale-leaseback deal flow remain tempered. Private pay assets are still selling at a premium. The regulatory environment including repeal and replace is 10 U.S. Property staffing concerns persist and second quarter net occupancy data is disappointing. As these issues have been covered quite extensively by others I won't spend time discussing the particulars. While the current environment poses challenges and requires some amount of caution on our part, I think it's important to remember that the long-term underlying trends for senior housing remain very favorable. And that we are highly focused on helping our operating partners in whatever way we can based on a philosophy of trust, transparency and share success. Instead of focusing on industry challenges that we cannot control, we are using this time as an opportunity to ensure LTC's continued success by thinking outside the box, creating new and different ways to source and structural deals and attract new operating partners. As we discussed on our last call, one of our competitive advantages in finding new investment opportunities is our ability to identify off market deals through relationships we've built over the years and through our mezzanine lending platform. Using this platform to source new sale-leaseback transaction provides the potential for additional scalability and future growth. The joint venture transaction in our pipeline, demonstrates our willingness and ability to explore various lease and investment structures to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our current and future operating partners, while maintaining significant value and our culture of profitable growth. I now want to provide an update on our Anthem properties which resulted in our issuance of a monitory default notice on our master lease with them covering 11 memory care communities, nine of which are operational and two of which are currently under development. When we began helping Anthem grow their business approximately six year ago, they had a very aggressive growth plan and unlike many of great startups, they have suffered growing pains. Anthem's communities are in deferred locations, many are doing well and generating positive cash flow and we believe that over time all will become fully stablished. However, three communities in particular, Tinley Park, Burr Ridge and Westminster are dealing with some short-term problems that are currently being addressed. Staffing challenges including at the executive director level at three of the communities resulting in distractions that we believe have impacted lease ups in these buildings. As of July 31, occupancy at Tinley Park, Burr Ridge and Westminster was 29%, 47% and 88% respectively compared with 25%, 42% and 80% respectively. To do this again June to July the 25% became 29%, 42% became 47%, 80% became 88%. I am holding a weekly call with one of the Anthem principles to keep them focused on corporate cost reductions and to give more current occupancy reports. I know it is early in the month but as of yesterday Tinley Park was plus five residence, Burr Ridge was plus three and Westminster was plus six. Nine days does not make a month but the trend is positive. I’d also note some challenges at two of our Kansas communities operated by Anthem. Anthem took over operation of these properties post acquisition and soon realized that turning around existing properties was not part of their core D&A. We’re currently in negotiations to transition these two communities to a different operating partner which would help elevate some of Anthem’s curve burden and better allow them to focus on their core competencies. Aside from making an operator change at the two Kansas communities, we are evaluating all options related to the nine remaining communities. In addition to negotiating with Anthem, we could transition some or all of the remaining properties to a new operator, sell some or all of the properties or a combination of these two. We will update you on progress as we move forward in the process. A few final words about our Anthem relationship. We've had additional opportunities to fund new development projects with them, but proactively put the brakes on our combined activity after seeing declines in their operating performance at the community levels mentioned. More importantly I’d like to stress that our cost basis in Anthem is well below current market value. If you apply a 7% cap rate to the non-stabilized trailing 12-month NOI on the first four Anthem assets, which opened in the Denver area, the potential value per unit basis would be $282,000 and our net book value plus straight line and other assets is about $197,000 per unit, translating into approximately a $20 million potential value creation. As a result of the current Anthem challenges, we wrote off approximately $1.9 million of straight line and other assets in the second quarter related to releasing the Kansas properties. Subsequent to the end of the quarter the rent paid by Anthem will be recorded on a cash basis, which we currently anticipate to be approximately $1 million per quarter through year end. Because we are currently in negotiations to release the Kansas properties, we have not included any additional rent assumptions related to them in our guidance. To provide additional clarity, annual GAAP rent under the Anthem lease is approximately $11.7 million and at the end of the second quarter, the net book value of the 11 properties was $111.6 million. We had $8.6 million in straight line receivable and $6.6 million in other assets on our balance sheet as of June 30. While we are obviously disappointed in these Anthem developments, I believe that we will emerge with a successful rent solutions for Anthem and for LTC. As a result of our investment activity, property sales, the transition of two properties to Thrive and the short-term challenges at Anthem, I am revising our 2017 guidance. Assuming no additional investment activity, financing of core equity issuances for the remainder of the year, I'm now forecasting FFO between $3.03 and $3.05 per share for 2017, which includes the anticipated quarterly payment of rent from Anthem of approximately $1 million. For modeling purposes, I’d also note that our G&A assumptions have been reduced for the remainder of the year and we’re now looking at a run rate of approximately $4.1 million per quarter. We’re currently working through next year’s budget and a resolution of the Anthem asset and we’ll provide our thoughts on 2018 at a later date. Our remaining committed capital to-date at 2017 totals approximately $61 million, which includes development in major existing property additions and improvements. I’ve said before that regardless of activity levels this year, the portfolio we have built will generate FFO this year and next and I continue to be optimistic about our future opportunities. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we’re staying the course with our strategy of reducing average portfolio age, extending our operating partner base and maintaining a strong coverage ratio, while fine-turning our implementation to help ensure many more years of successful attrition. Thank you for joining us today. We'll now take your questions.