AHOSKIE – One of the area’s oldest nursing homes, Kindred Healthcare (formerly Guardian Care), will soon be under new ownership.

Kindred announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell eight non-strategic nursing centers for approximately $49 million to affiliates of Signature Healthcare, LLC. The Ahoskie location – Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation – is one of the eight nursing centers listed in the agreement.

The Signature transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions to closing. Kindred expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2013 when these conditions are satisfied.

A spokesperson with Signature Healthcare informed the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that the transaction may be completed just after Aug. 1. It is not known how the proposed sale will impact the Kindred employees in Ahoskie.

The eight facilities contain a total of 996 licensed nursing-center beds. Five of the facilities are owned, and the remaining facilities are leased. They combined to generate revenue of about $69 million and earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $8 million for 2012.

“The transaction with Signature further accelerates our repositioning strategy with the goal of improving our long-term growth, profitability and financial position,” Kindred CEO Paul Diaz said in a news release. “Like the Vibra Healthcare transaction announced in April, this tax-efficient transaction allows us to sharpen our focus on our Integrated Care Markets and provides more capital to grow our home health and hospice operations.”

Meanwhile, a subsidiary of Kindred has agreed to acquire the assets of All Heart Home Health Agency and Hospice Inc., a home health and hospice provider that operates two locations in Norfolk, VA. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

All Heart currently generates annualized revenue of about $5.5 million. This transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.

In the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News market, Kindred currently operates three nursing and rehabilitation centers.

Signature Healthcare, based in Louisville, KY, boasts that more than half of its facilities have earned four- or five-star rankings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Under CMS’ five-star rating system, nursing homes are assessed in three main categories: health inspections, quality measures and staffing. The overall rating combines scores received in each of the three categories. A five-star ranking, the highest score a nursing home can achieve, is considered ‘much above average,’ while a four-star ranking is considered ‘above average.’

Signature currently operates 75 nursing and rehab centers, of which 23 have a five-star ranking and 18 have four stars. Signature’s number of four- and five-star buildings has nearly tripled since January 2009. The increase reflects an ongoing effort to raise the quality of care delivered at Signature homes through a combination of programs and initiatives.

Signature Healthcare was founded in 2007 with a vision to radically change the landscape of long-term care forever. It is under the leadership of company president Joe Steier and boasts of than 12,000 employees.