TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/01/10 -- Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust ("CREIT") (TSX: REF.UN) today announced that it has entered into an unconditional agreement to sell it's Herons' Hill office property located at 2001 and 2005 Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario ("Herons' Hill" or the "Property") to a subsidiary of LaSalle Investment Management ("LaSalle") for a total sale price of $48.6 million.
Herons' Hill is a 300,000 square foot suburban office property located in the Consumers Road office node in North East Toronto. The Property was acquired by CREIT in 2001.
The sale is being completed in two separate closings. LaSalle acquired a 50% interest in the Property today for $24.3 million in cash (the "First Closing"). LaSalle has unconditionally agreed to acquire CREIT's remaining 50% interest in the Property for $24.3 million in January, 2011 (the "Final Closing").
Concurrent with the First Closing, CREIT and LaSalle jointly completed $27.0 million (at 100%) of non-recourse mortgage financing secured by the Property carrying an interest rate of 3.78% and maturing in October, 2015. CREIT's 50% share of the mortgage financing will be assumed by LaSalle on the Final Closing.
CREIT will continue to provide full property management and leasing services until the Final Closing.
Stephen Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of CREIT, said "This sale is consistent with our strategy of selling non-core assets from our portfolio during favourable market conditions."
CREIT will report a total accounting gain on this transaction in excess of $11.0 million, half of which will be included in our Q4 2010 results. Gains on asset divestitures are not included in CREIT's Funds From Operations.
The conditional sale of the Property was previously disclosed in CREIT's second quarter 2010 Management Discussion and Analysis.
CREIT is a real estate investment trust that is dedicated to accumulating a portfolio of high-quality real estate assets, and delivering the benefits of real estate ownership to unitholders. The primary benefit is a reliable and, over time, increasing monthly cash distribution. CREIT owns a diversified portfolio of retail, industrial and office properties.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to our operations and the environment in which we operate, which are based on our expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not future guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, a forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any such statement, to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances.
Contacts:
Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust
Adam Paul
Vice President, Investments
416-628-7798
apaul@creit.ca