April 22 (Reuters) – Real estate investment trust National Healthcare Properties’ shares fell 3.7% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, as investor appetite for new listings remains uneven amid geopolitical uncertainties.
The company’s stock opened at $11.56 per share, compared with its $12 offer price. It had sold 38.5 million shares in its initial public offering, below the marketed range of $13 to $16 apiece, raising $462 million.
The IPO market has heated up over the past few days as concerns of a protracted war in the Middle East have eased. But analysts and bankers caution that investors remain selective about how they allocate capital.
New York-based NHP is a REIT focusing on senior housing and healthcare real estate assets.
The debut comes a month after the successful New York flotation of peer Janus Living ; its shares have gained 23.6% from offer price, as of last close.
“The two companies are similar, but I think Janus Living was in some ways a cleaner story. NHP has up to now generated more of its income from outpatient medical facilities than from senior housing,” said Nicholas Einhorn, vice president, research, at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.
Earlier this month, NHP signed a deal to sell 86 of its medical facilities for $528 million, as part of its strategy to fund a growing senior housing properties investment pipeline.
“Public investors might have warmed to the story more if that transition was behind it instead of in front of it,” Einhorn said, adding that a simple dividend yield comparison also makes it unsurprising that Janus got more initial interest than NHP.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Sahal Muhammed)
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