Genesis receives a newer, higher bid

Genesis HealthCare Corp., a nursing-home operator based in Kennett Square, has promised itself to private equity firms in Georgia and Virginia, but is entertaining a new suitor from San Francisco anyway.

The company said yesterday that it had received an acquisition proposal from Fillmore Capital Partners L.L.C. of $64.75 a share. The Genesis board had already recommended approval of an earlier bid of $64.25 a share from Formation Capital L.L.C., the Georgia company, and JER Partners in McLean, Va.

Genesis stock gained 78 cents to close at $64.01 on the Nasdaq yesterday.

The two private equity firms agreed in January to buy Genesis for $63 a share, or $1.25 billion. They amended their bid earlier this month after an investor sent a letter to the company's board saying the offer was too low.

Company shareholders are to vote on the proposal May 4.

A Genesis news release yesterday said the company's board of directors would review the new proposal, "consistent with its fiduciary duties."

An employee at Fillmore Capital Partners said yesterday that no one was available to comment on the proposal.

Fillmore purchased Beverly Enterprises Inc., another nursing-home operator, in 2005 in a deal worth about $1.8 billion.

Genesis, which emerged from bankruptcy in October 2001, is one of the country's largest providers of long-term care, with more than 200 skilled-nursing centers and assisted-living facilities in 13 eastern states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It also supplies rehabilitation services.

It employs 34,600 people.