After 5-Community Sale in March, Harbert Management Preps for More M&A Activity Ahead

Harbert Management Corporation transacted a five-community portfolio earlier this year, and the company is planning for much more activity ahead for senior living mergers and acquisitions.

According to Brian Landrum, co-head of the seniors housing team at Harbert Management senior living has transformed in the last decade and a half, with more large transactions closing faster since he started in the industry in 2009.

“There is substantial capital that is new to our asset class, and that’s really driving some of the types of deals that are firmly in the buy box of some of these new capital providers that are entering our space,” Landrum told Senior Housing News.

Harbert is an alternative asset manager with holdings valued at $8 billion across industries that include real estate, hospitality and healthcare. The firm focuses on value-add acquisitions or developments of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, and since its inception has completed over $1.8 billion in transactions across 50 senior housing properties.

In March, the company sold a five-property portfolio it had acquired or developed between 2017 and 2023, and since its inception has worked with 15 senior housing operating partners such as Morningstar Senior Living, Senior Resource Group and Cedarhurst Senior Living.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and private-equity investors are looking to quickly scale with larger transactions on average, Landrum said.

Landrum is seeing portfolios of stabilized, Class A senior living that are “generating consistent, reliable cash flow streams” going to market and transacting.

Harbert Management is seeking additional value-add transactions, and has several other transactions currently under nondisclosure agreements. He expects other similar companies will actively pursue deals, and to that end, the senior living industry is awash in new capital in 2026. Newcomers include health care-focused REIT Chiron Real Estate (NYSE: XRN), which acquired from affiliates of Silverstone Senior Living three luxury senior living communities in the Washington, D.C. area for $425 million earlier this month. REITs with name recognition also are taking advantage of the current M&A market, including by launching a new publicly traded REIT, in the case of Healthpeak (NYSE: DOC).

“We’re at a very unique inflection point in 2026,” Landrum said. “We’ve seen new capital in our asset class. We’ve seen old names come back to the asset class, and then obviously the publicly traded REITs … It’s a race to scale for them.”

Deals are closing at a faster rate as well, with Landrum citing a deal closed in 30 days from a signed letter of intent, a speed that largely hasn’t been seen since perhaps 2019 prior to the Covid pandemic. However, once the available product is purchased, the number of acquisitions is likely going to decrease.

“I think there’s going to be less acquisition opportunities in 2027 and 2028 and I think folks are going to need to start thinking about a true pivot to development,” Landrum said. “That really hasn’t been a focus of the publicly traded REITs or private equity over the last two years, but I think that’s where the growth engine is beyond 2026.”