Last year was the most active year on record for community “transitions” in the non-profit senior living sector, with nearly 110 communities changing hands across more than 70 deals in 2022.
That’s according to a report by the Chicago-based specialty investment bank Ziegler.
Transitioned communities are communities that changed hands in some way, such as by closing, a sale to a non- or for-profit, or an affiliation..
Ziegler began tracking the data in 2015, a year that saw 88 community transitions. Since then, the total has grown to 782 non-profit communities that have changed hands between 2015 and the end of 2022. And Ziegler expects to add more communities to the 2022 tally as the first quarter of the fiscal year always brings to light deals that were previously unaccounted for, according to the report on the Zigler website.
The Ziegler report noted several patterns that have emerged over the years of data collection. One is that for-profit senior living companies have with growing interest looked to buy communities belonging to nonprofits, with nearly half (46%) of the communities that changed hands since 2015 acquired by for-profits.
Another trend is that there has been an increase in not-for-profits since 2015 buying communities from for-profits. In fact, Ziegler noted a record number of such transactions in 2022.
“This shows that many not-for-profit organizations are adding resources and doing the work at the board level to quickly respond to these situations when they arise,” the report reads.
Non-profit communities are also increasingly looking to affiliate, and not always not out of financial necessity. According to Ziegler, there has been a wave of organizations that have explored affiliation after the retirement of a longtime CEO or another leader.
Just last month, Pennsylvania-based Moravian Manor Communities and Morningstar Living announced the two were exploring an affiliation agreement as Morningstar CEO Susan Cooper Drabic is expected to announce her plans to retire in the coming months.
Regarding closures, the lion’s share came from the senior care sector, with almost three-quarters (70%) of closures occurring in nursing home organizations.
“Of the remaining 30%, they tend to be communities that have dated physical plants requiring substantial reinvestment, often in financial distress, and often in rural areas or highly competitive urban settings,” the report noted.
Companies featured in this article:
