FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Sept. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) today announced the funding of its first loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  The loans have a combined principal balance of $21.6 million and are secured by three skilled nursing facilities.  The HUD insured loans have an all in interest rate of approximately 4.6% and amortization terms of 30 to 35 years.  The net loan proceeds of $20.4 million will be used to pay down outstanding term debt in the Company's senior secured credit faciity, which has a maturity date of April 2016 and an all in interest rate of approximately 6.8%.  Loans from current loan commitments that would be secured by an additional seven facilities in the amount of $66.0 million with an all in interest rate of approximately 5.7% are expected to close before the end of the year.  "We are pleased to have finally closed our initial loans under the HUD program.  These loans strengthen our capital structure and also improve our leverage ratio, which is a metric under our senior secured credit facility comparing earnings to debt that we must maintain below an agreed level," said Boyd Hendrickson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Skilled Healthcare Group.  "HUD also recently informed us that they will require an update of our corporate credit review from 2012 before issuing further commitments.  We hope to initiate that update by the fourth quarter of 2013 or early 2014, and look forward to pursuing additional HUD-insured loans as quickly as possible.  The required update will not affect any of our current loan commitments from HUD," continued Mr. Hendrickson.

About Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc.

Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., based in Foothill Ranch, California, is a holding company with subsidiary healthcare services companies, which in the aggregate had trailing twelve month revenue of approximately $868 million and approximately 15,000 employees as of June 30, 2013. Skilled Healthcare Group and its wholly-owned companies, collectively referred to as the "Company," operate long-term care facilities and provide a wide range of post-acute care services, with a strategic emphasis on sub-acute specialty health care. The Company operates long-term care facilities in California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, including 74 skilled nursing facilities that offer sub-acute care and rehabilitative and specialty health skilled nursing care, and 22 assisted living facilities that provide room and board and social services. In addition, the Company provides physical, occupational and speech therapy in Company-operated facilities and unaffiliated facilities. Furthermore, the Company provides hospice and home health care in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Nevada. The Company leases 5 skilled nursing facilities in California to an unaffiliated third party operator. More information about Skilled Healthcare is available at www.skilledhealthcaregroup.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes "forward-looking statements." You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements contain words such as "may," "will," "project," "might," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," "continue" or "pursue," or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. They include statements about current and contemplated HUD financing opportunities and the timing of our corporate credit review update. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events, including the assumptions stated in this release. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, the actual performance of Skilled Healthcare may differ materially from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  There can be no assurance that any future HUD financing or our corporate credit review update will be completed in the timeframe or on the terms anticipated by the Company, or at all.  Additionally, the Company faces a number of other risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the factors described in Skilled Healthcare's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained therein) and in our subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.  Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release. Skilled Healthcare disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Investor Contact: Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. Chris Felfe (949) 282-5800

SOURCE Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc.

RELATED LINKShttp://www.skilledhealthcaregroup.com