A group of long-term care veterans led by former AVIV REIT chairman Craig Bernfield are launching a new private company to acquire, develop, and lease skilled nursing facilities and assisted living properties.
Hana2.0 Property Group will initially focus on those two property types equally, co-president Jeff Marshall told Skilled Nursing News Tuesday. The company will target smaller providers — typically with five or fewer assets — seeking the necessary capital to grow at scale.
“We’re set up as a partnership entity with a management company attached,” Marshall said.
Bernfield helped to facilitate AVIV REIT’s 2015 acquisition by Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) in a stock-for-stock merger.
Marshall was most recently senior vice president of operations at Omega. Three other Omega veterans — Josh Kochek, Sam Kovitz, and Steve Levin — are joining Bernfield and Marshall in the endeavor.
The Hana2.0 team will capitalize on its existing relationships in the skilled nursing and assisted living industries to build its platform, Marshall told SHN.
Its strategy will rely heavily on triple-net leases, as that is the primary lease arrangement in the skilled nursing world, but management intends to consider operating partnerships with assisted living providers — depending on the track record of the partners.
Marshall believes the fragmented long-term care landscape lends itself to building scale quickly, and data analysis will play a role.
“We are looking at dealing with high-quality operators in markets with solid demographic growth. We have no preference on urban, suburban, or rural. [What matters] is where those operators have effective operations, and if we can build on those operations,” he said.
Although Hana2.0 is operating as a private company, Marshall indicated that the company could morph into a publicly traded REIT in the future, depending on its capital fundraising results.
“All of us worked together [at AVIV and Omega], and are anxious to relaunch the platform and philosophy,” he said.
Companies featured in this article:
AVIV REIT, Hana2.0 Property Group, Omega Healthcare Investors
