The Ensign Group, the parent company of the Ensign group of skilled nursing and rehabilitative care services, said a group of its real estate holding subsidiaries has placed mortgages on six of the company's 27 unencumbered properties to secure a $40 million five-year term loan from GE Capital's Healthcare Financial Services business.

The new loan carries a five-year term, with a combination of LIBOR-based fixed-rate and floating-rate interest provisions that apply over the loan term.

"With the increasing volume of compelling acquisition opportunities we believe we are seeing, it was a good time to tap some of the un-leveraged equity in our 27 unencumbered facilities," said Suzanne Snapper, Ensign's chief financial officer.

Snapper noted that Ensign still has 21 unencumbered facilities in its 73-facility portfolio, and has historically borrowed against its assets at conservative levels to fund new acquisitions.

Mission Viejo, CA-based The Ensign Group's operating subsidiaries provide skilled nursing and assisted living services, hospice services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, and other rehabilitative and healthcare services for both long-term residents and short-stay rehabilitation patients at 73 care facilities in California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Utah, Idaho and Colorado.