IRVINE, CA—Calling the post-merger Sabra 2.0 “a Formula 1 pit stop” that was necessary to move toward completion of the mission, Sabra Health Care REIT chairman and CEO Rick Matros said Monday that 2018 will see the rollout of Sabra 3.0. With that goal in mind, the company has begun marketing its 43 remaining facilities leased to Genesis Healthcare Inc. and plans to sell them by the end of next year.

In all, Sabra expects to realize between $425 million and $475 million in sales proceeds from the remaining 43 Genesis properties. This divestiture plan comes on top of its previously announced plan to sell off 33 facilities leased to Genesis.

Along with the dispositions will be acquisitions: Sabra has closed on the first 21 of a 24-property skilled nursing portfolio in a $430-million sale leaseback with a major West Coast operator, which the company did not identify. “The operator is a standout provider in the skilled nursing space,” says Matros. “I have known the principals for over 20 years and the CEO was my COO at Regency Health Services in the early 1990s,” a period in which Matros himself served as Regency's chief executive. He adds that the portfolio represents “a perfect fit for Sabra's perspective on where the industry is going, and is an ideal replacement for the facilities we sell as we execute on the Genesis exodus plan.”