$100M+ senior care acquisition tops January M&A activity

By: G.F. Gay Le Breton and Alexander Aguilar February 8, 2022 
https://bit.ly/3ou78qz

Louisiana M&A activity remains strong coming off 2021. Twenty-three deals were either closed or announced in the month of January, compared to 19 in the same month of last year. Two notable deals focused on senior health care, both involving real estate investment trust (REIT) buyers.

Discovery Senior Living (Discovery) and White Oak Healthcare REIT (White Oak) announced the acquisition and rebranding of eight senior care communities owned by Metairie-based Schonberg Care in a transaction valued at over $100 million.

Schonberg Care owned and operated independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities in Luling, Covington, and New Orleans, as well as two in Mississippi and three in South Carolina, for a total of 650 beds.

The move is the latest in a historic period of growth and expansion for Discovery, which now operates a portfolio in excess of 100 communities and 13,500 units under multiple brands. To take advantage of efficiencies and resources available to national brands while maintaining the advantages of regionally-focused providers, Discovery has created a multi-brand structure. The Louisiana and Mississippi facilities now operate under the SummerHouse brand, while the South Carolina properties have been added to the TerraBella brand.

In a second senior care facility transaction last month, the Blake at Colonial Club in Harahan was sold by Quality Senior Living Partners (QSLP) as part of a two-facility package to an unnamed publicly traded REIT. Pensacola, Florida-based QSLP is a portfolio company of local private equity firm LongueVue Capital.

The Blake at Colonial Club was opened in 2021 on the site of the shuttered Colonial Golf & Country Club. The 118-unit assisted living and memory care facility represented a $28 million investment in the Harahan community, according to a company press release at that time.

LongueVue partnered with QSLP in 2017 to build “resort-style” senior living facilities. QSLP continues to own and manage seven senior care facilities in five states, including locations in Lafayette, Bossier City and Biloxi, Mississippi.

G.F. Gay Le Breton is managing director for Chaffe & Associates Inc., responsible for the merger and acquisition activities of the firm. Alexander Aguilar is a financial analyst with the firm.

Investment banking services are provided by Chaffe Securities Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.