AlerisLife is no longer a publicly traded entity, as the acquisition of Newton, Massachusetts-based senior living provider by ABP Acquisition LLC is complete, the companies announced on Monday.
AlerisLife is now a subsidiary of ABP after the company completed the previously-announced tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of AlerisLife for $1.31 per share in cash, with the dollar amount per-share representing an 85% premium for an average trading price prior to the acquisition.
The tender offer had expired on March 17. At that time, over 22.3 million shares had been tendered and not withdrawn from the tender offer, representing 72.8% of the outstanding shares of AlerisLife common stock. That included over 1.97 million shares already owned by ABP, with the company accepting 22.37 million shares for payment as part of the $43.8 million transaction.
AlerisLife stock ceased trading on the Nasdaq exchange with the acquisition by ABP, a firm controlled by RMR Group CEO Adam Portnoy. Portnoy is one of AlerisLife’s managing directors and the chair of its board of directors.
Once known as Five Star, AlerisLife has been through an ongoing evolution, having changed the makeup of the company and its leadership over time. In late 2021, the company rebranded as AlerisLife to reflect the shift to lifestyle services, having shed more than 100 smaller communities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In June 2022, Jeff Leer was named as CEO of AlerisLife, after a period of serving in that role on an interim basis. Last August, the company’s leaders announced a new plan to cut some corporate overhead positions as part of a restructuring plan. Two months later, the company named Philip Benjamson to the role of senior VP and COO.
After taking the helm as CEO, Leer worked closely with Portnoy on “turnaround and strategic plans,” he said in a Feb. 3 letter. The tender offer will have “no impact on the day-to-day operations of our company,” he stated.
Five Star got its start through a turnaround effort focused on bankrupt skilled nursing properties. The company was taken public in order to access capital to expand as it pursued an acquisition strategy focused on private-pay senior living, co-founder and former CEO Evrett Benton told SHN in 2015.
In 2016, Five Star was a target of the co-founders of senior living operator Senior Star, who endeavored to have a bigger ownership stake in the company. Five Star ultimately fended off those efforts, but not after a contentious back-and-forth.
