Life Care St. Johns seeks OK of private $27.5 million asset sale

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, June 16 – Life Care St. Johns, Inc. requested court approval to sell substantially all of its assets to Westminster Pines, Inc. through a $27.5 million private sale, according to a motion filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Specifically, the company said Westminster will purchase its continuing care retirement community in St. Augustine, Fla.

According to the motion, a previous effort to sell the retirement community failed following a court-supervised auction.

As a result, Life Care said it believes the private sale to Westminster Pines is appropriate “given the extensive marketing effort which preceded the prior auction, the limited number of qualified candidates expressing an interest in the CCRC and the continuing issues facing the community.”

Life Care said the proposed purchase price is below the $30.1 million final bid made in the previous auction, but it exceeds the original stalking horse bid by $3 million.

In addition, the company said the Westminster agreement does not require payment of a break-up fee or expense reimbursement, and bondholders will receive the benefit of a $1.23 million deposit recovered from termination of the previous sale agreement.

Life Care said the recovery to bondholders is estimated to be 2% less than under the previous sale agreement, while distributions to all other creditors will be unaffected by the new sale terms.

Life Care St. Johns is a St. Augustine, Fla.-based not-for-profit. The company returned to bankruptcy on April 11, 2016 under Chapter 11 case number 16-01347.

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