Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) announced the largest deal so far in the month of February, by price, at least. It’s been a slow month for healthcare mergers and acquisitions, so the selling price of $740 million is leading the pack.
The portfolio consists of assisted living communities located in California, Nevada and Washington. They were primarily assisted living communities that were 97% occupied, on average. The buyer wasn’t disclosed.
It wasn’t the only divestiture by Welltower this month. The company also sold three skilled nursing facilities for $67 million. The SNFs have a combined total of 429 operational beds, for an average of $156,177 per bed.
The average age of the facilities is 49 years. Welltower is the seller and HCR ManorCare is the operator. This buyer wasn’t disclosed, either, although it was reported the buyer approached Welltower with an unsolicited offer for the facilities. Anyone willing to take on older SNFs has a deal, in this market.
For the record, 2019 was a busy year for Welltower. The company announced 16 acquisitions of assisted living communities and medical office buildings (6,633 units) for a total of $2.6 billion. It also announced nine sales of assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities and MOBs for $3.6 billion (approximately 7,730 units). We’ll see what 2020 holds.
