Chartwell Retirement Residences plans to sell its Chartwell Carlton Care Residence in Burnaby and its Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence in Nanaimo for $112 million before transaction costs and other adjustments.
Government approvals are needed but Mississauga-based Chartwell (TSX:CSH-UN) said that it expects the deals to close this year.
Calgary-based AgeCare Health Services Inc. and Montreal-based Axium Infrastructure plan to buy the properties and it comes after those companies in March agreed to buy 16 of Chartwell's Ontario long-term care homes.
Chartwell also announced in March that it planned to sell its Ontario long-term care management platform, which services an additional six homes, to AgeCare. AgeCare and Axium are also buying one Ontario care home that Chartwell is developing.
"Substantial growth in our retirement portfolio over the years and our recently announced transition of the Ontario long-term-care platform has led us to the decision to sell these long-term care residences in British Columbia," Chartwell's CEO Vlad Volodarski said in a statement.
"It was critical that these properties be sold to a strong and reputable organization which holds similar values to Chartwell to ensure a smooth transition for our residents and employees."
Volodarsky said that his experience working with AgeCare and Axium "strengthened my confidence that they are exactly the right partners."
Chartwell spent $27 million to redevelop its Chartwell Carlton Care Residence in 2012 and 2013. Fraser Health provides millions of dollars annually to fund 117 beds at the 128-bed facility. Subsidized residents in long-term care pay up to 80 per cent of their after-tax income to the facility, subject to maximum and minimum thresholds. The site's other 11 beds are paid for privately.
The Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence has 136 rooms, with 135 that Island Health publicly subsidizes and one room that is paid for privately. Chartwell paid $27.4 million to redevelop that home in 2016 so it could open to residents in 2017.
Chartwell is the largest operator of seniors' living facilities, with more than 200 in four provinces including properties under development, according to the company.
Chartwell announced the transaction on August 12 but did not name the homes that it was selling. Its units' price has fallen more than 10 per cent since then, and closed at $10.80 today (August 22).
