Canada's Largest REIT To Shed $2B Worth Of Properties Over Three-Year Period
Canada’s largest real estate investment trust will be selling approximately $2B worth of its holdings over the next few years.
RioCan REIT announced plans to sell an estimated 100 retail properties, which will be mostly made up of open-air malls and power centers. Although it did not specify which properties specifically will be shed, the company did confirm they are in secondary markets, the Financial Post reports.
This is the second time in two years RioCan has made the decision to sell a massive group of properties. In 2016, the REIT completed a $1.9B sale of 49 U.S. retail properties to Blackstone Real Estate Partners.
RioCan intends to start selling off the properties in phases toward the end of 2018, with plans to focus instead on Canada’s six major markets — Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton. These markets account for about 75% of RioCan’s annual rental revenue, the Toronto Star reports.
The company has also said it will invest between $300M and $400M per year on its development pipeline alongside the sale.
