Beverly Selling Operations in Arkansas, Iowa

The nation’s largest nursing home chain, Beverly Enterprises, on Friday agreed to sell its sizable Arkansas and Iowa operations to an Amarillo, Tex., partnership.

Beverly said proceeds from the sale of 80 nursing homes and four retirement villas to Ventana Investments would be used to reduce its $938-million debt. The price wasn’t disclosed.

During the past 18 months, Pasadena-based Beverly has sold operations in Massachusetts, North Dakota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Vermont as part of a plan to shrink the size of the company and lower its debt. Once enormously profitable, Beverly lost $83 million during the past two years.

Besides suffering financial difficulty, Beverly has been hit with allegations of poor patient care from health authorities in California, Minnesota, Texas and other states. For instance, one of its California facilities, Julia Convalescent Home in Mountain View, was placed on probation by state health officials in response to complaints about inferior care. Beverly has disputed the charges against it.

The sale to Ventana, which is subject to financing and regulatory approvals, would leave Beverly with 910 nursing homes, down from 1,052 at the end of 1987. Beverly spokesman Bill Ihle said the company plans to reduce its size even further.

Sale ‘Very Impressive’

Ihle said he didn’t know whether Ventana owned other nursing homes. A spokeswoman for Ventana said its general partner, Bruce H. Whitehead, was out of town and not available for comment. In addition to operating Ventana, Whitehead is chairman and a major shareholder of Banc Central, a small state-chartered bank in Amarillo with about $44 million in assets.

Rae Alperstein, an analyst with the Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards investment firm in Los Angeles, said the sale was “very impressive” in light of the depressed market for nursing homes generally. She estimated that Beverly would receive $50 million from the sale.

“Beverly is getting out of states where Medicaid reimbursement is less attractive,” said Alperstein, who expects Beverly’s profitability to improve as a result. She expects the company’s operations to break even or show a slight profit for the quarter ending June 30.

Beverly’s shares closed Friday at $8.625, up 12.5 cents, in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.