Cominar REIT sells 97 properties for $1.1b

Quebec City–based Cominar REIT has sold 97 assets to Slate Acquisitions for $1.14 billion.

The noncore property portfolio totals 6.2 million square feet. The deal, which is expected to close in March 2018, includes sales in regions outside Quebec and is spread across the office, retail and industrial/mixed-use sectors.

The sale is part of the REIT’s plan to focus primarily on the province of Quebec.

The portfolio includes 24 properties in the provinces of the Greater Toronto Area, with a gross leasable area of 2.466 million square feet; 59 assets in the Atlantic Provinces, with 2.647 million square feet of GLA; and 14 properties in Western Canada with a GLA of 1.108 million square feet.

By asset class, 37 properties are in the office sector, with a GLA of 2.967 million square feet; 37 are industrial or mixed-use properties, with a GLA of 1.716 million square feet; and 23 are retail holdings, with a GLA of 1.538 million square feet.

Cominar said in a statement that 90 percent of the noncore assets in the proposed sale include income-producing properties, while 10 percent are under development. The overall capitalization rate of the income-producing properties to be sold is estimated at 6.2 percent, including 5.3 percent for the Greater Toronto Area.

Cominar said it intends to sell an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion of properties, and expects to finalize this review by the middle of first quarter 2018, with the intention of crystallizing the value in these properties by the end of 2018.