Local nursing homes sold

Two publicly owned Fort Myers nursing homes are about to go private.

Manor Care, Inc., which owns Heartland Health Care Center and Manor Care Health Services, announced last week that it was going to be acquired by The Carlyle Group.

Both Manor Care Health Services and Heartland Health Care Center have 120 beds. Heartland Health Care Center has 20 beds dedicated to Alzheimer's patients and was sold to HCR Manor Care in 1990.

The company owns six other facilities between Sarasota and Naples.

It is unclear how the buy out will affect employees or residents.

"The Board of Directors and our financial advisors thoroughly evaluated a wide range of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value," said Manor Care chief executive officer Paul A. Ormond. "Partnering with top tier firm Carlyle and providing our shareholders with this attractive valuation is the best of those alternatives. This transaction affords a significant cash premium to our shareholders while allowing the company to continue its strategic direction and commitment to quality care. Carlyle appreciates the success we have achieved as a company and the role that our management and employees have played in the growth of this organization and its unique capabilities."

Completion of the transaction is contingent on approval by the company's shareholders, receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, and fulfillment of other usual and customary closing conditions. Manor Care anticipates the closing to occur in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The transaction will be financed through a combination of commercial mortgagebacked securities, other debt financing and equity provided by Carlyle.

Manor Care, Inc., through its operating group HCR Manor Care, provides shortterm post-acute services and long-term care. The company employs more than 60,000 people through a network of more than 500 skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and hospice and home care agencies. The company operates primarily under the respected Heartland, ManorCare Health Services and Arden Courts names. Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HCR.

The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $58.5 billion under management. Carlyle invests in buyouts, venture and growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in Asia, Europe and North America, focusing on aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, consumer and retail, energy and power, healthcare, industrial, infrastructure, technology and business services and telecommunications and media. Since 1987, the firm has invested $28.3 billion of equity in 636 transactions for a total purchase price of $132.0 billion. The Carlyle Group employs more than 800 people in 18 countries. In the aggregate, Carlyle portfolio companies have more than $87 billion in revenue and employ more than 286,000 people around the world.