Health Care REIT (HCN) is seeking to acquire substantially all of the real estate assets of privately-owned Genesis HealthCare. The Ohio-based real estate investment trust will pay a total of about $2.4 billion for the acquisition.

UBS Investment Bank is the exclusive financial advisor and lead capital markets advisor to HCN, while BofA Merrill Lynch and Citi are Genesis financial advisors. The transaction, which is pending for regulatory approval, may close during the second quarter of 2011.

Click here for the release from Business Wire.