MIDDLETOWN, DE-Sabra Health Care REIT has entered into an agreement to buy four skilled nursing facilities from Peninsula Healthcare Services LLC, according to a regulatory filing. It will pay $97.5 million for the 500-bed portfolio transaction, which is being structured as a sale leaseback. The properties are located in Delaware, according to the filing. They are Broadmeadow Healthcare, Capitol Healthcare, Pike Creek Healthcare and Renaissance Healthcare and range in age from two to 15 years. One of the assets, built in 1996, is currently under renovation. The purchase agreement is subject to customary conditions, including Sabra's due diligence investigation. Sabra expects that the transaction will close during the third quarter of 2011.

Sabra was unable to make anyone immediately available for an interview with GlobeSt.com. The REIT issued a press release on the pending acquisition, minus information about the seller and the location of the properties.

In a prepared statement Rick Matros, CEO and chairman of Sabra, noted that the acquisition adds new markets to the recently-formed REIT’s geographic footprint. “These assets are premier rehabilitation, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region, with an excellent management team,” he said. “Operating out of modern, purpose-built facilities, these facilities are able to care for medically complex patients as well as those requiring rehabilitation after a hospital stay.”

The 15-year triple-net lease agreement is expected to provide an initial yield on cash rent of 8.75% and annual rent escalations of 3%. Sabra is funding the acquisition with its available cash and a portion of the proceeds from an expected equity offering. If the equity offering is not completed prior to the closing of the acquisition, it will fund it through a combination of available cash, borrowings under its senior secured revolving credit facility and/or other debt financing sources.

Sabra was formed at the end of 2010, when Sun Healthcare Group’s shareholders voted to restructure its business by separating its operating assets and its real estate assets into two separate publicly-traded companies. Sabra Health Care REIT was spun off as a Maryland corporation in possession of Sun’s real property assets.

The REIT made its first major acquisition last month with the purchase of Oak Brook Health Care Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility in Whitehouse, TX. It paid $11.3 million in cash for the 120-bed facility.