Sabra Health Care REIT

Sabra Health Care REIT

Sabra Health Care REIT was formed in 2010 as a tax-free spin-off from Sun Healthcare Group, with Rick Matros as CEO. The Irvine, California-based firm emerged holding 86 facilities originally leased back to Sun, immediately establishing itself as a pure-play healthcare real estate owner. Its portfolio has since diversified beyond skilled nursing into senior housing, behavioral health, and addiction treatment centers. The firm executes net-leased and managed senior housing investments across the care continuum. Asset classes include skilled nursing facilities, transitional care hospitals, senior housing communities, and behavioral health centers. Sabra structures transactions as direct property acquisitions, sale-leasebacks, and mortgage loans. Confirmed operating partners include Enlivant, one of the largest senior living operators in the country, and Recovery Centers of America, which manages addiction treatment campuses. The geographic footprint concentrates on the United States with limited exposure to Canada. By 2024, Sabra had completed over $5.4 billion in gross real estate investments since inception, per the firm's public filings. The investment team is led by CIO Talya Nevo-Hacohen, who oversees acquisitions and portfolio management. The firm has actively shaped its operator roster, transitioning to a more diversified tenant base after facing concentration risk with a single large tenant in its early years. In February 2024, Sabra agreed to acquire a portfolio of 24 skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee and Texas for $535 million, marking a significant expansion with an existing operator. Sabra is externally advised but internally managed — a structural nuance that means executives operate the REIT directly rather than paying fees to an external manager. This governance model aligns management compensation with shareholder returns by eliminating the advisory-fee layer common in many externally managed REITs.