In one of the largest transactions of the year, Tony Cassie, Gideon Orion, and Mark Myers of Walker & Dunlop facilitated the sale of 46 senior care facilities across six Western states for EmpRes Healthcare. The company recently announced on its website that Evergreen Healthcare Group acquired its entire skilled nursing and senior living business line, including the rights to use the name “EmpRes”.
The 4,100-bed portfolio spanned across Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota with four seniors housing properties, and the remainder skilled nursing facilities. The complex deal structure took an investment banking form involving the sale of the business line, its owned real estate, and its individual leaseholds amongst half a dozen landlords.
Sources familiar with the transaction revealed that during the process, Evergreen was able to purchase the real estate on additional leaseholds. Evergreen will operate under the new name “EmpRes Operated by Evergreen.” EmpRes Healthcare and its wholly owned home health company Eden Health, will be separating operations, and EmpRes will be rebranding enterprise wide under the Eden Health name as the company focuses its full attention on its home health business. Brent Weil, CEO of EmpRes, will continue in his role as CEO of Eden, while the EmpRes centers will be integrated into Evergreen’s expanding portfolio.
The assets were on the older side, averaging between 40 and 50 years old. Operations took a considerable hit during the pandemic, and despite occupancy averaging below 75% across the portfolio the opportunity was competitively sought after while confidentially marketed by Walker & Dunlop. An undisclosed publicly traded REIT helped finance the deal.
