Vote delayed after new offers for Genesis HealthCare

The bidding war for Genesis HealthCare Corp. continued today, delaying tomorrow's scheduled shareholder vote on who will buy the Kennett Square-based, longterm care company.

Genesis today announced higher bids from two private equity suitors with other nursing home holdings: Fillmore Capital Partners L.L.C. and a partnership between Formation Capital L.L.C. and JER Partners. So far, Genesis's board of directors has supported proposals from Formation/JER even though Fillmore has offered higher prices.

Genesis said that on Monday evening, Formation and JER offered to amend their merger agreement with Genesis to increase the purchase price to $67.50 per share from $65.25. If the deal doesn't close by July 31, the price would increase by approximately 9 percent per year.

Genesis said the higher Formation/JER proposal expired at 12:01 a.m. today, and would have been withdrawn automatically if publicly disclosed.

Yesterday, Fillmore said it would pay $69 per share in cash, up from its previous offer of $67.25 per share. It is not offering interest. Its bid expires at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the release, the board of director of Genesis is reviewing Fillmore's proposal and is in discussions with Formation/JER. Pursuant to their merger agreement, Formation/JER will have an opportunity to improve their proposal if the board determines that the Fillmore bid is superior.

A shareholder vote on the merger agreement with Formation/JER has now been moved to May 18.