‘quite The Journey’: Sonida Closes $1.8m Cnl Deal, Pushes Labor Optimization Forward

The leadership of Sonida Senior Living (NYSE: SNDA) on Wednesday announced the company’s $1.8 billion merger with CNL Healthcare Properties (CHP) is now complete, creating the eighth-largest owner of U.S. senior housing assets with approximately 14,700 units spanning 153 properties across independent living, assisted living and memory care.

CEO Brandon Ribar said the transaction “significantly enhances” the company’s “competitive positioning, including benefits of scale” while creating new investment opportunities and improving balance sheet strength. During Wednesday’s fourth quarter earnings call, Ribar said the move accelerates Sonida’s growth profile.

“The company has been on quite the journey over the last three years, including this transaction,” Ribar said.

Sonida has added 93 communities to its portfolio of owned real estate since 2024, nearly all of which are “high quality assets in growth markets [and] are newer than most of the competition in the market,” Ribar added.

CHP merger creates growth, operating performance opportunities

Sonida’s “first priority” in the completed merger will be minimizing disruptions to operations at CHP and Sonida properties as integration efforts get underway.

“We’ve spent considerable time working with the 16 operators across the existing CHP portfolio to understand areas of opportunity and assess potential strategic relationships,” Ribar said.

Sonida will also create “additional incentives” for sustained, strong operating performance while aiming to maintain continuity within CHP’s asset management platform, bringing on six CHP employees for permanent roles to support portfolio stabilization and integration across the now-combined company, Ribar noted during the earnings call.

In a previous interview with SHN following the announcement of the CHP merger, Ribar said the effort would be “transformational” for Sonida’s growth trajectory moving forward.

Sonida leadership announced 88.9% of the total voting power of all Sonida shares voted in favor of closing the transaction, acquiring 100% of the common stock of CHP for $7.22 per share based on an exchange rate of 0.1318 shares of Sonida common stock and Sonida’s closing price on March 10 and $2.32 in cash.

Using the final exchange ratio, current Sonida shareholders would own 50.0% of the combined company’s diluted common equity, and normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share is expected to increase by 62%, a news release regarding the merger states.

Sonida secured permanent debt financing of $930 million, plus an “uncommitted accordion feature” which allows Sonida to increase borrowing on a permanent debt financing basis up to $1.25 billion, along with bridge financing of $900 million provided by RBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets to fund the cash portion of the purchase price. Sonida also borrowed $270 million under a bridge loan facility in connection with the closure of the merger, according to the release.

Ribar said the company would release further information and guidance on post-merger FFO after the first quarter of this year concludes.

Operational transformation continues

Sonida continues to focus on labor optimization in 2026, continuing a multi-year effort that has led the company to prioritize leadership development and retention.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be fully complete on optimizing our labor model—that’s the reality,” Ribar said. “We’re always going to be working on it.”

Regarding the labor environment in 2026, Ribar said Sonida is “confident” that trends witnessed in the fourth quarter regarding staff retention are ongoing this year. Sonida will also continue in its “development of a labor model that rewards our strongest employees and furthers our retention efforts,” Ribar added.

“Our focus will intensify further on retaining, developing and recruiting new talent as we grow,” Ribar said during the question and answer portion of the earnings call.

The company’s investments in higher wages, improved benefits and “the positive and supportive culture” has resulted in stabilizing its leadership turnover, something that “continues to trend favorably,” Ribar noted.

Meanwhile, Sonida is part of a growing number of senior living operators that are going big on using data to improve operations. The company is also focused on improving staffing conditions and resident engagement across its portfolio of communities in 2026, collecting best practices from a number of “talented management organizations” as part of the merger.

These efforts to improve the company’s operating model come as Sonida also grew its portfolio by 30% in 2024.

Same-store revenue per occupied room (RevPOR) in 2025 rose 4.8% compared to 2024. Sonida also reported strong occupancy, particularly in the second half of last year, increasing occupancy to 87.9% in Q4, the company’s highest quarter of occupancy growth post-Covid-19 pandemic and 90 basis points above the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Chief Financial Officer Kevin Detz.

Same-store net operating income (NOI) increased 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, with an overall increase of 8.1% in 2025, according to the company’s 4Q2025 investor presentation.

Since 2024, Sonida has made more than $2 billion in senior living investments, growing from 61 communities in 2024 to 153 this year after the merger.

Dispositions of approximately 10% of the company’s portfolio are expected over the next six to 12 months, Ribar said, with proceeds going towards deleveraging and then into reinvestment.

“Dollars from those transactions would first go to de-lever the company and then would be available for recycling into assets that we feel reflect what [the] go forward portfolio represents, which are high quality, newer vintage assets in strong growth markets,” Ribar said.

In March 2026, Sonida deployed a 7.9% renewal rate average increase for its legacy senior living portfolio given strong demographic-driven demand and increased pricing power within its markets.

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