H&R Sells 11 in Canada

By Thomas Peretti, Contributing Correspondent

-- H&R Real Estate Investment Trust has announced the completion of the sale of eleven retail properties. The firm netted approximately $72 million from the transaction. The company expects approximately a $9 million return on sale.

The buildings are in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. They total 1.1 million square feet of leasable retail space. The individual buildings range in size from 5,000 square feet to the 284,000 square feet.

H&R expects to use the revenue generated from the sale of the buildings to help fund the $330 million investment that the company has committed to three projects. One such project is a $1.4 billion office complex in Calgary, Alberta. To fund these projects and others, H&R has raised $117 in net proceeds from the sale of non-strategic assets.

H&R’s president & CEO Tom Hofstedter noted in a statement that the use of the revenue generated from the sale of the eleven properties for these projects was the primary motivation for the transactions. He indicated that, going forward, “Our strategy, as always, is to minimize development risk and maximize return on equity invested by pre-leasing the properties to creditworthy tenants with long terms to expire.”

H&R is a North American real estate investment trust with nearly 300 properties with a total value of $4.4 billion. The firm recently made news by closing the over-allotment option to purchase an additional $15 million principal amount of 6.65 percent convertible unsecured subordinated debentures.

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