Nursing home operator Skilled Healthcare Group Inc said late Monday that it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the company, sending its shares up about 14 percent to a year high. The company's real estate portfolio could be the key in attracting an offer, with at least two analysts valuing the company at $17 per share. "The company's 77 percent ownership in its portfolio represents a very attractive asset that management could monetize, and with recent real estate deals in the skilled nursing industry we believe the time is right to do so," RBC Capital Markets analyst Frank Morgan wrote in a note to clients. In December 2010, HCP Inc bought most of privately held HCR ManorCare Inc's real estate assets for about $6.1 billion, while Health Care REIT Inc said in February that it would buy the real estate assets Genesis Healthcare for $2.4 billion.
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