Omega Healthcare buys Aviv REIT in $3B blockbuster deal

The senior real estate market shook today when Omega Healthcare care announced it will buy competitor Aviv REIT for $3 billion.

The deal will combine Aviv’s 312 properties with Omega’s 562 properties, creating a blockbuster REIT with more than 90,000 licensed beds across 41 states.

“The combination of Omega and Aviv creates the premier pure-play skilled nursing facility REIT which, with the expertise and proven track records of the combined management teams, will be well-positioned to continue as the leading consolidator in the large, highly fragmented skilled nursing facility industry,” Omega CEO Taylor Pickett said in a corporate statement.

Aviv Chairman and CEO Craig Bernfield also acknowledged the consolidation in the senior real estate market, especially in the skilled nursing sector. “ This is a strategic combination of two best-in-class companies that have been the most dedicated and successful investors in the skilled nursing sector over the past few decades. The combined company will now be positioned to be the premier consolidator of [skilled nursing facility] real estate for years to come,” he said in a corporate statement. “The market opportunity is significant due to highly fragmented ownership and lack of competition from other well capitalized companies.”

Aviv had been on a buying spree of its own over the past two years, spending $48 million on nine nursing homes in March and investing nearly $240 million in acquisitions in 2013.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.