Investment manager and owner Phorcys Capital Partners is expanding its footprint in the industry with a plan to acquire and turn around distressed communities across the U.S.
The company this week announced the $26.4 million acquisition of The Glen at Lake Oconee Village, a recently constructed 114-unit senior living community in Greensboro, Georgia, with independent living, assisted living and memory care. The acquisition was initiated after the property had gone through a receivership sale, but there had been no buyers, according to Phorcys Capital Managing Partner Vasilieos Sfyris.
Phorcys is also looking at several other deals at the moment, but Sfyris said it was too early to disclose details.
This is the second community that Phorcys has added to its asset management portfolio, with the first being an Inspired Living community in Lewisville, Texas. But the company has been involved with the debt side of the senior living industry for years.
“We have been an investor in distressed municipal bond credits that were secured by senior housing assets since our fund commenced operations in 2014,” Sfyris said.
Phorcys is currently raising capital for a new $100 million fund, dubbed the Phorcys Senior Housing Recovery Fund, that it plans to use to target acquisitions of overleveraged assets that were financed by municipal bonds and can be acquired on a lower cost basis to “give the residents a better bang for their buck.” The fund was seeded with the Lewisville acquisition, Sfyris said.
SRI Management will continue operating the day-to-day functions of The Glen at Lake Oconee Village, with Sfyris saying the two companies have had a “congenial” relationship together so far.
“We’re looking to work with them on other facilities and other acquisitions down the road,” Sfyris said. Phorcys has since its 2014 founding primarily focused on sectors including senior living, multifamily housing, student housing, and hospitality, with about $130 million in senior living investments made to date.
The company’s acquisition strategy is set against a backdrop of industry distress and recovery. In particular, the industry is among the “riskiest” for muni bonds, and that could translate into the bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers narrowing in the months to come. And with favorable demographics on the horizon, some in the industry are growing their senior housing portfolios now in anticipation of greater demand tomorrow.
“We believe that senior housing represents an exceptional opportunity for real estate,” Sfyris said. “There is stress in this space … and we believe that now is the right opportunity for folks to get involved in senior housing.”