MISSION VIEJO, Calif., July 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ensign Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENSG), the parent company of the Ensign™ group of skilled nursing, rehabilitative care services, home health care, hospice care, assisted living and urgent care companies, announced today that it acquired the operations and real estate of Olympia Transitional Care and Rehabilitation, a 125-bed skilled nursing facility in Olympia, Washington. The acquisition was effective today, July 1, 2015.
"This acquisition continues our recent momentum in the State of Washington and further strengthens our footprint," said Christopher Christensen, Ensign's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Greater Seattle is a unique market that truly showcases Ensign's full continuum of care, with skilled nursing, assisted living, urgent care and home health and hospice operations that are providing care to local residents and patients," he added.
"We are excited to welcome this devoted team of caregivers into the Ensign family and to continue delivering the highest quality of care to this community," said Spencer Burton, President of Pennant Healthcare, Inc., Ensign's Northwest-based portfolio subsidiary. He added that the response in Olympia to Pennant's acquisition of the facility has been overwhelmingly positive and that he expects the new operations, which had an occupancy rate of approximately 78% at acquisition, to be mildly accretive to earnings in 2015.
In a separate transaction on the same day, Ensign's Arizona-based subsidiaries also acquired seven skilled nursing facilities, three assisted living and independent living campuses, which will be operated by Ensign subsidiaries under a long-term master lease arrangement. The Arizona acquisitions were also effective July 1, 2015.
These acquisitions bring Ensign's growing portfolio to 161 healthcare facilities, twenty-seven of which are owned, thirteen hospice agencies, fourteen home health agencies, three home care businesses and seventeen urgent care clinics across 12 states. Mr. Christensen reaffirmed that Ensign continues to see a very healthy pipeline for growth opportunities within its existing footprint and in new markets. He also indicated that the organization is actively seeking and negotiating several other transactions to acquire real estate and to lease both well-performing and struggling skilled nursing, assisted living and other healthcare related businesses.
About Ensign(TM)
The Ensign Group, Inc.'s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and assisted living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, home health and hospice services, urgent care services and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 161 facilities, thirteen hospice companies, fourteen home health businesses, three home care businesses and seventeen urgent care clinics in California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin. More information about Ensign is available at http://www.ensigngroup.net.