Nationwide Health Buys 5 Care Homes for $14.4 Million

Nationwide Health Properties Inc. said Tuesday that it has purchased five nursing homes in two separate transactions worth a total of $14.4 million.

The Newport Beach company’s stock rose 25 cents a share on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday to close at $24.

Nationwide Health is a real estate investment trust that owns 111 health-care facilities in 25 states and leases them to other operators. With the new transaction, it will acquire 524 beds at an average cost of $27,560 per bed, the company said.

Four of the nursing homes, in Gilroy, Hayward, San Jose and Santa Cruz, were purchased for a total of $10.4 million and will be leased to GranCare Inc. of Culver City, company treasurer Mark Desmond said.

The deal is part of a complex transaction in which GranCare bought 23 California nursing homes from ARA Living Centers of Houston,, sold four of them to Nationwide to help finance the acquisition, and then leased them back, GranCare President Gene Burleson said.

Nationwide bought the fifth facility, in Reno, from a bankruptcy receivership for $4 million, Desmond said. It will be leased to and operated by Horizon Healthcare Corp. of Albuquerque.

Nationwide earned $6.7 million, or 54 cents per share, on revenue of $16.4 million for the six-month period ended June 30.