Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance Announces First Quarter 2024 Financial Results

About this update from Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc.

[{"type":"text","content":"CHICAGO, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ: REFI) (“Chicago Atlantic” or the “Company”), a commercial mortgage real estate investment trust, today announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. John Mazarakis, Executive Chairman of Chicago Atlantic, noted, “We are thrilled with progress toward regulatory reform resulting from the recent news of the DEA’s commitment to the rescheduling of cannabis. Once enacted, the policy change is likely to bring significant benefits to the U.S. cannabis industry, including the elimination of punitive federal tax burdens, increased access to capital, and increased employment and investment opportunity to the expected benefit of our shareholders. While there is still uncertainty as to exactly how and when the rescheduling will conclusively take place, this report signals encouraging progress for the industry as a whole.” Peter Sack, Co-Chief Executive Officer, added, “We grew the portfolio this quarter funding one new borrower and drove improvement in book value per share with accretive sourcing of capital through our ATM program. The portfolio demonstrated remarkable stability with the weighted average yield to maturity remaining above 19%, while we continue to be selective in adding new operators to the portfolio. The originations pipeline is robust as operators look to take advantage of improving sentiment in the industry and pursuing growth in states such as Maryland, Missouri, and Ohio.” Portfolio Performance As of March 31, 2024, total loan commitments of approximately $401.3 million (all of which are funded) across 28 portfolio investments.Weighted average yield to maturity was approximately 19.4% as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023.Real estate collateral coverage was 1.3x compared with 1.5x as of December 31, 2023.Loan to enterprise value (calculated as outstanding principal balance divided by total value of collateral on a weighted average basis) was approximately 40.5% as of March 31, 2024 compared with approximately 44.1% as of December 31, 2023.The percentage of loans which bear a variable interest rate was 76.6% as of March 31, 2024 compared with 80.5% as of December 31, 2023. Investment Activity During the first quarter, Chicago Atlantic had total gross originations of $22.5 million, of which $6.7 million a...

More updates from Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc.