A group of 18 communities worth $500 million and managed by CommuniCare are changing hands to a new owner, according to a new report from the Baltimore Business Journal. It’s one of the largest eldercare sales in the state in the past decade.
The deal includes a sale of all 18 of CommuniCare’s nursing homes in Maryland to Jack Shelby-led family trusts. Ten of the properties are in the Greater Baltimore area, and the remainder are in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, Western Maryland and the state’s Eastern Shore.
While the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) approved the deal between CommuniCare and Shelby family trusts in March, final property sales are ongoing with transactions not posted yet on state property records, according to the report.
Representatives for Omega, CommuniCare and Shelby did not respond to requests for comment on the transaction when emailed Friday.
The buyer was a collection of family trusts controlled primarily by Jack Shelby, a businessman who owns nursing homes in Florida and Texas. Purchases of the operational rights and ownership of property seem to all be purchased by different coalitions of Shelby family trusts.
Shelby and other owners plan to give operational control of the Maryland properties to Hallmark Health Consulting Services, as well as Health Consulting Services, which is based in D.C.
Ohio-based CommuniCare is the eighth-largest nursing home operator in the country with 122 facilities across six states.
The majority of residents at the facilities are on Medicaid, according to the Business Journal report. The state has high hopes for the properties due to sell, considering companies that acquire nursing homes are required to submit financial metrics and other data for three years after deal close. This gives the state greater oversight of the facilities.
The properties had an average five-star rating of 2.38 stars, below the 3-star national average, the report found.
Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) in April announced a CommuniCare portfolio is expected to sell in Q2 for $480 million, but the locations were split between West Virginia and Maryland. It’s unclear how much overlap there is between the CommuniCare deal announced and what Omega unveiled in its April earnings report.
Companies featured in this article:
