Beverly Enterprises Rejects Bid for Company

Beverly Enterprises Inc., which operates 351 nursing homes and 18 assisted-living centers, rejected an investor group’s bid to acquire the company for about $1.41 billion.

The bid wasn’t high enough and would “threaten shareholder value,” the board of Fort Smith, Ark.-based Beverly wrote in a letter to Arnold Whitman, chief executive of Formation Capital and one of the investors.

The group, including hedge fund Appaloosa Management and Franklin Resources Inc.’s Franklin Mutual Advisors unit, proposed a takeover in December.

Shares of Beverly fell 15 cents to $11.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.