Brookdale Senior Living has sold the remaining 20% equity interest it held in its Health Care Services unconsolidated venture and received aggregate proceeds of approximately $27 million in the process, the Brentwood, TN-based company announced Wednesday. The company did not disclose the buyer.
The country’s largest senior living provider had announced in February 2021 that it was selling an 80% stake in Brookdale Health Care Services — a provider of home health, hospice and therapy services — to HCA Healthcare for $400 million. At the time of the announcement, BHS operated 57 home health agencies and 22 hospice agencies across 26 states, along with 84 outpatient therapy locations.
Brookdale at the time said that the move was designed in part to position the company’s core senior housing operations for sustained growth. The sale was completed in July 2021.
In September 2021, LHC Group inked a deal to buy some Brookdale Health Care Services agencies from the HCA–Brookdale venture for an undisclosed price. The deal, which was finalized in November 2021, included 23 home health locations, 11 hospice and 13 therapy agencies across 22 states. LHC Group subsequently was acquired by UnitedHealth Group for $5.4 billion in a transaction that was finalized in February 2023, and the company now is part of UnitedHealth’s Optum diversified health services division.
Brookdale’s Wednesday announcement of the sale of its remaining 20% equity interest in the venture also included news of the completion of two other transactions to refinance all of the company’s remaining 2024 debt maturities:
- This month, Brookdale obtained a $180 million loan under a 2017 master credit facility agreement and secured the principal via non-recourse first mortgages on 47 communities. Those communities also continue to secure approximately $580 million of additional outstanding mortgages with a later maturity. The $180 million loan has a fixed interest rate of 5.97% and matures in 2031. The facility includes “borrow-up” provisions that the company expects will enable it to obtain additional funding in 2024 under the loan, based on the performance of the underlying communities. At the closing, Brookdale repaid $260 million of debt under the facility, which was scheduled to mature in 2024, using proceeds from the $180 million loan and cash on hand.
- Also this month, Brookdale amended its revolving credit agreement with Capital One to provide an expanded commitment of up to $100 million that can be drawn in cash or as letters of credit. The amount represents a $20 million increase from the previously existing commitment, according to Brookdale. The amended credit facility will mature in January 2027, and Brookdale has options to extend it to March 2028 and March 2029.
Brookdale said Wednesday that it also has “made significant progress on a financing transaction involving 11 of its currently unencumbered owned communities, which it expects to complete in the coming months.”
“We believe the positive strides we have made in 2023 are reflected in these completed financing transactions, which clear our debt maturities until 2025,” Brookdale Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Kussow said in a statement. “The ongoing proactive management of our liquidity position, including these completed and pending transactions, together with Brookdale’s solid improvement in operating results, support our continued strong liquidity position.”
