NHI announces purchase/leaseback transactions

National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) announced today a total of $29.7 million in purchase/leaseback transactions. The transactions include three assisted living and memory care facilities totaling 102 units in Minnesota with Suite Living Senior Specialty Services (formerly known as Comforts of Home) for $17.2 million and a 66-bed acute psychiatric hospital known as Alvarado Parkway Behavioral Institute in La Mesa, California with Helix Healthcare for $12.5 million. The purchases were funded with borrowings from NHI’s revolving credit facility. The transactions will bring NHI’s total investments to date in 2010 to $96.7 million.

The assisted living facilities, which are two to three years old, are leased to Suite Living for a term of 15 years at an initial lease payment of $1,720,000 plus annual fixed escalators. Suite Living operates a total of six assisted living and memory care facilities throughout Minnesota with another seven locations under construction or development.

The Alvarado Parkway Behavioral Institute, which opened in 1984 and is certified by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), is leased to Helix Healthcare for a term of 15 years at an initial lease payment of $1,500,000 plus annual fixed escalators.

Justin Hutchens, NHI President and COO, noted, “These transactions continue the strong start we have achieved in 2010 with an investment strategy primarily focused on assisted living and skilling nursing facilities and complemented with this select specialty hospital opportunity. Alvarado Parkway Behavioral Institute has been providing acute psychiatric services to San Diego residents for many years, and we are pleased to mark our entry into the California market with this unique, attractive opportunity. Suite Living is a very well-regarded assisted living operator in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and these assisted living communities achieve strong operating performance benefiting from a blend of high traffic locations, efficient service delivery and strong management oversight.”