HARTFORD – Twenty-three of Haven Healthcare’s nursing homes will be transferred to new owners under a bankruptcy plan released Friday by a federal judge in Hartford Superior Court, according to the Associated Press.

“This decision marks a new day for these nursing homes, and hopefully a new era of even higher quality care and financial stability,” Conn. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a Friday statement.

The Middletown, Conn.-based chain operates 27 nursing homes and assisted-living cetners, most under the Haven Health Center name. Fifteen of those centers are in Connecticut; four in Rhode Island, in Coventry, Pawtucket, Warren and the Greenville section of Smithfield; one in Chelsea, Mass.; four in New Hampshire; and three in Vermont.

The new ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Albert S. Dabrowski follows the collapse of a tentative deal announced last month, in which Formation Capital LLC of Georgia would have acquired all the Haven properties.

Dabrowski’s ruling approved the transfer of five Connecticut nursing homes, plus facilities in Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire, to Omega Healthcare Investments of Rhode Island, the AP said. CapitalSource Finance will take over three other homes in Connecticut, while Connecticut Health Facilities Inc. and Nationwide Health Properties will gain one apiece.

The state will ask a Superior Court judge to name receivers for the other four facilities – all in Connecticut – Blumenthal said.

State officials have alleged that Haven allowed nursing-home bills to go unpaid while CEO Raymond S. Termini used company funds to pay for a house, a yacht and a Nashville record label. The CEO has denied misusing company assets, the AP said. Termini – who reportedly told employees in a June 27 letter that he would be resigning as of today – has acknowledged using some money from the refinancing of Haven properties to finance the record-label deal, but has said that none of the money came from patient care.

Neither he nor the company have responded to media requests for comment.

“Haven Healthcare has grown by caring about the facilities that no one else cared for,” Termini said in a statement in November – the same month the company filed for bankruptcy protection. “The majority of our centers were purchased out of bankruptcy, state receiverships, financial distress and quality of care issues,” he wrote. “Haven has worked tirelessly to save these homes from closure, resulting in thousands of jobs that could have been lost and preventing the elderly from being displaced. We have weathered financial difficulties, and we are turning things around.”

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE:OHI) – which last month established Omega Healthcare Investments of Rhode Island to operate the 15 Haven facilities located on Omega-owned real estate – is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focusing on investments in and financing to the long-term care industry. As of March 31, it owned or held mortgages on 325 health care facilities in 28 states that were operated by 26 companies. Additional information about the company and its facilities is available at www.OmegaHealthcare.com.

Haven Eldercare LLC is the parent of Haven Healthcare. Additional information about the company and its facilities is available at www.HavenHealthcare.com.