


Sonida Senior Living Gets New Life
It is well known that the recovery from the pandemic is taking longer than many had expected, and that after the initial surge in occupancies starting in the second quarter of 2021 the rate of growth has slowed, even with the recent suppression of new construction and openings. All of this is impacting the capital markets, especially as interest rates keep rising. We have repeatedly stated that the industry needs to fix its capital structure. The logjam of borrowers and creditors fighting and not coming to terms that are workable for both sides needs to burst. TPG Capital and Sabra Health Care REIT could not come to any agreement with Fannie Mae over $485 million in debt on their Enlivant... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Q2:23 M&A Activity Rebounds Above 100 Transactions
The M&A market rebounded, sort of, in the second quarter of 2023, rising to 110 publicly announced transactions, compared with 99 in the first quarter. Considering the economic shock of fast-rising interest rates, and how many deals died in all stages of the transaction pipeline last fall, the volume was actually impressive. Most of the dealmakers we talk to say that their pipelines are healthy, albeit moving slower and with more difficulty than before. We are still way down from the 147 transactions recorded in the second quarter of 2022, which annualized would have resulted in nearly 600 deals for the year. But a lot has changed in a year, clearly. We are missing the larger... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Supreme Court Decision Hits Public SNFs
So much of the ire against skilled nursing facilities (personal, political and in the media) has been directed towards privately-owned facilities, and mainly their ownership those they deem as “private equity”, because of their great sin of caring for nursing home patients at a profit, and often not even at one. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling is now opening up public SNFs to the threat of lawsuits on the basis of civil rights violations. After the wife of a patient with dementia in a county-owned SNF in Indiana sued alleging he was unnecessarily chemically restrained and involuntarily transferred without their consent, which would be violations of the Federal Nursing Home Reform... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Occupancy Jumps in May
After struggling in the first quarter, which historically has been the industry norm, Brookdale Senior Living posted an increase of 40 basis points in weighted average occupancy in May (compared with up by 70 basis points in May 2022), and 50 basis points for month-end occupancy (compared with up by 90 basis points in month-end 2022). That is the good news. The bad news is that weighted average occupancy in May was still just 76.6%, the same as in January. So far, weighted average occupancy has increased by 50 basis points in the second quarter (two months). This compares with an increase of 100 basis points in the first two months of the second quarter of 2022, and 160 basis points for... Read More »