Former Omega Healthcare Execs Form New Private Company, Hana 2.0

A group of long-term care veterans led by former AVIV REIT chairman Craig Bernfield are launching a new private company to acquire, develop and enter into triple-net leases on health care real estate for seniors.

Hana2.0 Property Group will initially focus equally on assisted living and skilled nursing assets, co-President Jeff Marshall told Senior Housing News. The company will target smaller providers — typically with five or fewer assets — seeking the necessary capital to grow in scale.

“We’re set up as a partnership entity with a management company attached,” Marshall said.

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Bernfield helped facilitate AVIV REIT’s 2015 acquisition by Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) in a stock-for-stock merger. The combined company, which focused primarily on skilled nursing, had an equity market capitalization of approximately $7.8 billion and a total market capitalization of approximately $11.1 billion.

Marshall was most recently senior vice president of operations at Omega. Three other Omega veterans, Josh Kochek, Sam Kovitz and Steve Levin, are joining Bernfield and Marshall in the endeavor.

The Hana2.0 team will leverage existing relationships in skilled nursing and assisted living to build its platform, Marshall told SHN. It is focusing on triple-net leases, as that is the primary lease arrangement for skilled nursing, but will consider operating partnerships with assisted living providers, depending on the track record of the partners.

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Marshall believes the fragmented long-term care landscape lends itself to building scale quickly, and data analysis will play a role.

“We are looking at dealing with high-quality operators in markets with solid demographic growth. We have no preference on urban, suburban or rural. [What matters] is where those operators have effective operations, and if we can build on those operations,” he said.

Although Hana2.0 is operating as a private company, Marshall indicated that the company could morph into a publicly traded REIT in the future, depending on how its capital fundraising goes.

“All of us worked together [at AVIV and Omega], and are anxious to relaunch the platform and philosophy,” he said.

Long-term care veterans are looking to capitalize on the fragmented landscape in senior housing, launching new ventures after leaving large companies. Former Five Star Senior Living (Nasdaq: FVE) CEO Bruce Mackey and COO Scott Herzig in June launched a new operating company, Sona Senior Living. Sona will initially focus on third-party management of senior housing communities across the care continuum and throughout the U.S.

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