CHICAGO — Some 92 percent of executives from the seniors housing and long-term care industry expect the pace of mergers and acquisitions within the sector to remain the same or increase over the next 12 months, according to newly released findings in a Capital One survey. Conversely, only 8 percent expect M&A activity to decrease. Conducted in September, the e-mail survey asked professionals to provide their 12-month outlook on a number of issues in the seniors housing space. The survey netted 147 respondents. “I was a little surprised by people expecting M&A activity to increase next year. Obviously, the market has been fairly robust for a number of years,” said Chris Taylor, managing director at Capital One Healthcare, during an interview with Seniors Housing Business at the fall conference of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The three-day event, held Oct. 17-19 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago, attracted more than 3,100 attendees. One possible explanation for survey respondents’ optimism over M&A prospects in the year ahead, according to Taylor, is that while it’s getting more difficult for investors to acquire Class A product in light of the compressed cap rates and rising interest rate environment, they see more …
