Ventas has inked a deal to acquire New Senior Investment Group in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.3B. New York-based New Senior owns 102 independent living communities and one continuing care retirement community nationwide.

Under the terms of the acquisition, New Senior shareholders will receive about 0.16 shares of Ventas for every New Senior share that they own. The valuation represents about a 6% cap rate on New Senior's projected net operating income next year.

Based on the closing price of Ventas common stock on Friday, the exchange represents about $9.10 per New Senior share. That is a 31% premium on New Senior’s 30-day trading average, according to Chicago-based Ventas.

"The transaction provides Ventas shareholders with an attractive valuation and accretion, and further positions us to win the recovery," Ventas Chairman and CEO Debra Cafaro said in a statement.

U.S. senior housing occupancy hit a record low of 78.8% in the first quarter of 2021, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care. That was down 1.8 percentage points from the last quarter of 2020 and 8.7 percentage points from the first quarter of 2020.

The Ventas-New Senior deal comes after major senior housing operator Atria Senior Living agreed to buy another major operator, Holiday Retirement, in a $1.6B deal. At the same time, senior housing REIT Welltower is paying $1.58B to acquire all 86 of Holiday’s properties.

Among all of the New Senior properties, 65 are managed by Holiday Retirement, while 21 are managed by Atria Senior Living, in which Ventas owns a 34% ownership stake. Other senior housing operators manage the other 16 New Senior properties.