Healthcare real estate investor Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. recently paid $16 million for a 48-unit memory-care building in Aurora, Colo., from an affiliate of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based New Dawn Holding Co.
The deal also gives Irvine-based Sabra the right of first refusal to buy a New Dawn affiliate’s facility under construction in Sun City West, Ariz., and designed for the care of persons with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Sabra now has 104 properties in 25 states with 11,440 licensed beds.
The deal came about a month after it entered into an agreement with Wisconsin-based First Phoenix Group to develop up to 10 senior housing and memory-care properties. First Phoenix will identify and develop the properties, with the first one to be built in Ramsey, Minn.
Affiliates of Sabra will buy the properties, and a 50-50 joint venture between Sabra and First Phoenix will operate the facilities subject to certain terms and condition. Sabra will own all of the real estate.
First Phoenix’s care delivery “and the environment they create is unique, both operationally and from a physical-plant perspective, and will therefore be very appealing to the new generation of seniors in need of senior housing,” Sabra Chief Executive Richard Matros said in a statement.
Matros called the venture “an important step as we begin to expand our asset base and we are particularly pleased to bring new and distinct assets into our portfolio.”
“Over the next couple of months, we will be in a position to make announcements that will demonstrate not just our commitment, but our ability to execute on senior housing deals, both in terms of stabilized assets and in terms of building development pipelines in the senior housing arena,” Matros said in a recent earnings call.
Sabra will continue to buy skilled-nursing, assisted-living and dementia-care properties, he said.
The company will emphasize senior housing more in order to have a “much better balance” between private-pay senior housing and skilled nursing, the chief executive added.
“Obviously it will take us some time to get there,” Matros said. “In terms of how we get there, we really look at it in a couple of different ways. For right now, the most important thing still for us is how to reduce our exposure to our primary tenant, Sun/Genesis.”
Sabra was founded in 2010 in a spin off by Sun Healthcare Group Inc., a long-term care company in Irvine. Sun was recently acquired by Genesis HealthCare LLC of Kennett Square, Pa., for $280 million.
Matros said Sabra expects to have its exposure to Sun and Genesis properties down to 60% by the end of 2012 with a goal of eventually getting down to 50%.
Commercialization Funds
Irvine-based Aviir Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., which develops lab tests for heart disease, just raised $8 million from Santa Clara-based Silicon Valley Bank. The round included $5 million in debt and a $3 million credit line.
Aviir said it plans to use the funding to pick up its commercialization activities and build out infrastructure. The company last raised money at the end of 2011, when it got $30 million in equity financing led by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, which is the investment unit of Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based drug maker Merck & Co.
Aviir’s core TruRisk predictive test aims to see if a person is prone to blood clots within their arteries. Such clots form out of fatty plaque deposits on arterial walls and are more likely to lead to death than narrowing arteries. The company also offers routine heart disease testing and genetic testing for measuring the effectiveness of drug therapy.
Bits and Pieces
Northland Securities in Minneapolis initiated coverage of Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. with an “underperform” rating. The firm also initiated coverage of dental laser maker Biolase Technology Inc., also in Irvine, with a rating of “outperform.” … West Anaheim Medical Center and La Palma Intercommunity Hospital received quality measure recognition from the Joint Commission, a Washington, D.C.-based accreditor of healthcare organizations. La Palma and West Anaheim are owned by Ontario-based Prime Healthcare Services. … California State University, Fullerton, hosted a symposium featuring current research on childhood obesity and nutrition in late September. The meeting also featured faculty members from the University of California, Davis. … OC Breast Wellness, a Fountain Valley medical practice, introduced digital palpation imaging, a technique to detect breast lesions early in their development with no radiation.
