Nhi Execs Talk $560m nhc Sale, C-suite Changes To boost Private Pay, Senior Housing M&a 

National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI) on July 1 completed the sale of its National HealthCare Corporation (NHC) portfolio, leased to NHC, for $560 million with expected gains of about $541.6 million.

It’s “one of the most significant corporate actions in NHI’s history,” NHI CEO Eric Mendelsohn said during the company’s 2Q earnings call on Tuesday.

“Beyond increasing our private pay, senior housing focus, it substantially strengthens our balance sheet by reducing leverage to well below our long-term target range and provides strong liquidity to pursue future investments,” said Mendelsohn. “We believe this financial flexibility creates a meaningful competitive advantage as acquisition opportunities accelerate.”

The 32 nursing homes and three independent living facilities were classified as assets held for sale in 2Q and had an aggregate net carrying value of $13.6 million.

Consistent with NHI’s capital allocation strategy, about $221 million of the NHC proceeds were used to complete previously acquired replacement properties, and the remaining $334 million is being held for future reinvestment, according to Todd Siefert, CFO for NHI.

As of June 30, NHI has 117 seniors housing assets, 33 skilled nursing, 2 specialty hospitals and 42 senior housing operating portfolio (SHOP) assets. That means 16.5% of NHI’s assets remain skilled nursing, according to supplemental documents released by NHI.

About a year ago, SHOP exposure and assets were around 5% to 6%, and now NHI has close to 25% in this asset class, with plans to get to 40% to 50% in three years, said Mendelsohn.

In addition to NHC, NHI completed dispositions of four properties for $91.8 million. NHI received a $5.5 million mortgage note from an affiliate of the buyer related to one of the properties as part of the consideration.

NHI completed the sale of two more properties in Texas for $19 million, held as assets for sale as of June 30.

Kevin Pascoe, chief investment officer for NHI, said actions taken in the past several months have meaningfully increased the company’s capacity to execute as opportunities arise, and the team is confident they will continue to deploy capital where the long-term risk-adjusted returns are the most attractive.

“As part of our ongoing asset management process, we continually evaluate every property to ensure it supports NHI’s long-term strategy,” said Pascoe. “While acquisitions naturally receive the most attention, dispositions are an equally important component of discipline capital allocation.”

NHI missed analyst expectations for 2Q at $1.19 per diluted share, compared to $1.22 in 2Q 2025. Funds from operations were short 2.5% year over year, weighed down by a CFO transition, according to a note from BMO Capital Markets. More dispositions make “increasing sense,” BMO analysts said.

C-suite changes accommodate growth strategy

The team talked briefly about C-suite changes as well – Chris Maingot coming on board as COO allows Pascoe as chief investment officer to “put the pedal to the metal” on acquisitions, said Mendelsohn. Pascoe has more freedom to search for and partner with good operators to grow NHI’s platform and ramp up acquisitions with the new C-suite addition.

Maingot started as NHI’s first-ever COO as of July 27. The addition comes on the heels of NHI’s succession plan for long-time CFO John Spaid, who retired effective July 1. Siefert took on the CFO role at that time.

Mendelsohn said he’d like to see the company’s run rate increase with Pascoe focused solely on acquisitions.

“The other part of that equation is hiring someone with deep operations experience who worked for an operator, who worked for Blackstone,” said Mendelsohn of Maingot. “He brings a little bit of private equity mentality to our operating platform and can help us get better returns out of the assets that we own while motivating the managers to perform at their highest potential.”

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