“Show me the money!” Let’s do a transaction roundup; it has been a while since we have done one.
This blog post will be about our neighbors to the north. Canadian firms have been making headlines in high-priced deals in the past couple months. The Aug. 2 IREN contained three Canadian transactions:
- Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust has paid C$231.5 million ($224 million) acquired four Ontario shopping centers anchored by Walmart stores
- The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) agreed to acquire a 27.6 percent interest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil–based Aliansce Shopping Centers S.A. from General Growth Properties for an equity amount of $480 million
- Ivanhoé Cambridge acquired a 50 percent interest in the Carrefour de l’Estrie in Sherbrooke, Quebec, from CPPIB, which will continue to own 50 percent of the shopping center
And earlier IRENs have covered Crombie REIT’s purchase of 68 Safeway properties located in western Canada for $990 million and The Brookfield Canada Office Properties acquisition of the Bay Adelaide Centre East development in downtown Toronto from its parent company for $602 million.
Last week started with Brookfield Property Partners buying a U.S. warehouse company from Japan’s Kajima Kajima Corp. in a $1.1 billion deal that will increase its industrial real estate portfolio.
Canadian investors have been spending, particularly the CPPIB. The pension fund has a grocery list of announced deals starting during the first quarter. CPPIB invested £173.9 million ($257.7 million) to acquire a 50 percent interest in a London-based core-plus/value-add portfolio with joint venture partner The BT Pension Scheme. In another London deal, The Westfield Group sold a 50 percent stake in its Stratford City development to Dutch pension fund APG and the CPPIB. The sales price was £871.3 million ($1.34 billion).
In Asia, CPPIB and its partner Goodman Group have increased their equity allocations to Goodman China Logistics Holding, with $400 million contributed by CPPIB and $100 million by Goodman. CPPIB continued its Asian exposure by forming a new partnership with GE Capital, the Tokyo Office Venture, which targets investment in mid-size class A and B office properties in key CBD submarkets of Tokyo. And CPPIB committed an additional $316 million to its GLP Japan Development Venture, a 50-50 joint venture with Global Logistic Properties that develops modern logistics properties in Japan.
Back in Toronto, CPPIB acquired 1 Queen St. East and the adjoining 20 Richmond St. East property from the Ontario Pension Board for C$220 million ($209 million). In another joint venture, CPPIB and Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, have expanded their 50-50 Canadian retail joint venture, investing in two Canadian-based malls.
It’s only Monday. CPPIB has been quiet so far, but who knows what could happen in the rest of the week. Check out this week’s IREN or the newsfeed to see what’s happening.
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Andrea Waitrovich is web content editor of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.
