Birmingham, Michigan (August 2, 2021) - Kandu Capital, LLC and its operating company, Bloom Senior Living, announced that it divested two Assisted Living and Memory Care communities in Lakewood, Ohio and St. Petersburg, Florida.

Following Bloom's strategic sale of two of its three South Carolina communities -- Bloom at Bluffton and Bloom at Hilton Head -- in May 2021 for $12,250,000, Bloom today sold Bloom at Lakewood, a 91-unit Assisted Living community purchased for $3,100,000 in 2010 out of the Sunwest Management bankruptcy, and Bloom at St. Petersburg, a 94-unit Assisted Living and Memory Care community purchased for $5,500,000 in 2017 from a local owner/ operator, for $11,800,000 and $12,500,000 respectively.

In the aggregate, Bloom realized proceeds of nearly $37,000,000 since May 2021 on initial investments of approximately $15,000,000. Like the South Carolina communities that had a modest $2,000,000+ mortgage, the Ohio and Florida communities also had modest leverage in the amount of 7,000,000+, which is consistent with Bloom's conservative capital structure of having little debt (and no outside partners or investors). It's a depression-era mentality that has served the family business well by being prepared to navigate cycles and always "Do the Right Thing" (one of the core Bloom Beliefs) for its Bloom associates, residents and families. 

Bradley Dubin, Bloom's Principal/Director of Acquisitions, indicates "in addition to our already strong cash position, we have even more dry powder to deploy into seniors housing. While we will continue to own our family's legacy mental health/psychiatric and real estate businesses, we are committed to the seniors industry and all of our effort, time and resources will be dedicated exclusively to the space going forward. We believe seniors housing, already rapidly recovering from the pandemic and having the benefit of accelerating and strong demographics, limited new supply and being the most affordable it has been in more than a decade, coupled with changing sentiment in the public and private markets and recent M&A activity across the sector, is headed back to peak occupancy, pricing, profitability and valuation levels analogous to what we saw coming out of the last recession during 2014-2016. These emerging dynamics sets up for the ultimate super cycle and remain underappreciated.”

Bloom has never been better positioned. With a portfolio of core, stable seniors housing assets in South Carolina, Indiana and Louisiana, Bloom will focus on operating those communities consistent with its differentiated mission, Bloom Beliefs and culture (in order to continue providing the best resident experience that focuses as much on helping seniors flourish as keeping them safe and secure) while looking for new opportunities. In respect to the former, Bloom will continue making investments in its operating platform, including its people, systems, and game changing education and cultural programs. In respect to the latter, Bloom will continue focusing on opportunities to turn around and improve communities consistent with its mission of being able to help seniors bloom by affording to live longer, better. Thus, Bloom is focused on both internal and external growth. 

Mr. Dubin notes: "one lesson we learned from selling assets, which we rarely do, is that while we were lucky to find like minded purchasers on these transactions, that appears to be more the exception than the norm. This is an operating business and ensuring a smooth transition for the residents you care deeply about and teams you value so much is paramount. The fact that our family is both the capital provider and an experienced operator that moves at lightning speed and stands by our word while intentionally making transactions seamless and effortless for sellers makes us an ideal purchaser that parties will want to transact with as we add communities to the Bloom portfolio." He added "we think that certainty and credibility, along with our reputation in this industry, provides us with a competitive advantage."

Scott Kantor, Bloom's Principal/Director of Operations, stated "losing our Bluffton, Hilton Head, Lakewood and St. Petersburg teams, along with our dear residents, was one of the hardest decisions we've made in business. Our people are our extended family, but we left them in good hands with caring operators and this was a strategic, necessary step as Bloom continues to improve and evolve as a company, and prepares for the future in senior care."

Alex Vice of Walker Dunlop and Ross Sanders of Newmark represented Bloom on the Ohio and Florida transactions respectively. The Nathanson Group PLLC has served as legal counsel representing Bloom on all the aforementioned transactions.