Sobeys CEO Marc Poulin to be replaced

Sobeys CEO Marc Poulin to be replaced

Empires decision to replace Marc Poulin, CEO of Sobeys  was inevitable given the retailer’s lingering difficulties with integrating the Calgary-based Canada Safeway chain into its business close to three years after its $5.8 billion purchase.  Poulin, who was also CEO of Empire (EMP.A-T), has been replaced on an interim basis by François Vimard, Empire’s CFO.

Financial Post

Caisse buys into a major European property manager

La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is involved in another blockbuster deal, the acquisition of Foncia, France’s leading provider of residential property management services, by a consortium headed by Swiss firm Partners Group. Reports in the French press peg it at 1.8-billion euros (about $2.6 billion).

Montreal Gazette

RioCan wants to be a big city REIT: Sonshine

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust teamed up with Tricon Capital Group and Diamond Corp. earlier this month to acquire retail outlets and a block of land in midtown Toronto near the Summerhill subway station for $85 million from Woodcliffe Landmark Properties. The deal includes Shops of Summerhill and an adjoining block of land.

Property Biz Canada

Toronto’s Templar Hotel is on the auction block

Bidding opened at one dollar for The Templar Hotel, a luxury boutique property in downtown Toronto, this week. “The previous vendor spent a lot of money and went bankrupt,” said Core Consultants Realty Inc. managing director Shawn Abramovitz, who listed the eight-storey, 27-suite hotel.

Property Biz Canada

Brexit and foreign money drive up Canadian CRE

Paul Finkbeiner, the chief executive of GWL Realty Advisors, which has over $17 billion in assets under management, is finding it increasingly difficult to buy new real estate. Valuations have never been higher, according to a survey from CBRE Canada, which blames the Brexit vote and foreign investment for driving up prices in the commercial property market.

Financial Post

‘Brexit clauses’ used to drop U.K. CRE deals

Some commercial property buyers are invoking “Brexit clauses” written into contracts agreed before Britain voted to leave the European Union, allowing them to walk away from the deals. In other cases buyers have yet to exercise such get-out clauses but are keeping the option open to try to renegotiate the price down, according to property lawyers and managers.

Globe and Mail

Canada Life halts trading in U.K. property funds

Canada Life has been forced to suspend redemptions at two of its real estate funds due to uncertainty about the value of commercial property in the United Kingdom following the Brexit vote. The Toronto-based firm joins at least six others, including Standard Life and Aviva, in restricting withdrawals from commercial property funds.

Financial Post

Read more BREXIT news below.

Kelly Ramsey Tower to kick off Edmonton growth spur

The Edmonton financial district’s first new office building in almost three decades will kick off a multi-year surge of downtown development when it welcomes its initial tenants next month.  The Kelly Ramsey Tower, being renamed the Enbridge Centre after its biggest tenant, has been under construction since 2013.

Edmonton Journal

‘Mega-bar’ proposals opposed by Edmonton residents

A plan to build two large nightclubs downtown is being opposed by the Downtown Edmonton Community League for being too large for the area.  One bar, 691 sq. metres or 7,439 sq. feet in size and a maximum occupancy of 596 people, is proposed for the ground floor of the Fox 2 condominium, now under construction at the corner of 104th Street and 102nd Avenue.

CBC.ca

Private sector ready to turn Edmonton sewage into heat

Edmonton city council got a confidence boost for its Blatchford energy plans when a private corporation assured them up to six private companies would be interested in building exactly the complex technology they’re seeking. “I’m 100-per-cent confident,” said David Young, a general manager with Axsiom Group, adding Edmonton’s proposal to use waste heat from sewage and from the ground makes sense and is financially viable.

Edmonton Journal

Pet Valu and Pet Supermarket merge

Pet Valu and Pet Supermarket have merged to create the third largest pet specialty retailer and the largest small format, neighborhood, pet specialty retailer in North America. The combined business is named Pet Retail Brands. With over 930 stores, it will generate approximately $1 billion in system-wide retail sales across the US and Canada.

Financial Post

	BREXIT News
	The following section of the RENX newsletter itemizes news stories and information related to the recent referendum in Britain where the majority of citizens voted to exit the European Union.

 

UK property funds take more Brexit hits

Globe and Mail

Investments trapped as London’s property market goes cold

Commercial real estate is a victim of the recent Brexit vote which has left over US$20 billion trapped in funds that not long ago promised investors a slice of London’s red-hot property market. Money placed in real estate vehicles managed by big asset management firms may have yielded strong returns during the boom years, but the flip side of such investments is fast becoming evident.

Financial Post

Brexit vote unlikely to cool Metro Vancouver’s CRE market

Metro Vancouver’s commercial real estate market will likely maintain its momentum despite the global economic and financial turbulence caused by the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union, local developers and brokers say.  The June 24 vote by Britons to leave the 28-member bloc comes as commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland outpaced historical averages in the first quarter of this year.

Vancouver Sun

Office REITs likely to take a huge hit as Brexit unfolds

The ambiguity of Brexit continues to send aftershocks across the shores of Singapore, as analysts fear that the city-state’s office segment is at risk relative to hospitality and residential. According to a report by UOB Kay Hian, the potential loss of access to the EU’s single market could jeopardise London’s standing as the financial hub of Europe.

SBR

Brexit: Keep calm and hold onto data center REITs

While Brexit spooked global financial markets, US-based Real Estate Investment Trusts, including data center REITs, are one asset class exhibiting relative strength compared with the broader market. Brexit has already had many unintended consequences including a downward spike in interest rates for sovereign debt.

Data Centre Knowledge

Market behaviour in the post-Brexit world

Divergence is a state of market behaviour where factors do not agree.  In the case of the post-Brexit world, the U.S. market is on the cusp of making all-time highs. However, the biggest safe haven of all, U.S. Treasuries, are at all-time highs and gold has some mojo not seen in years.

Globe and Mail

Hanging by a thread

After years of rapid expansion, the clothing retail market is facing a storm of change. Fast fashion retailers are flooding the market with cheap wares, fickle shoppers are holding out for discounts and Amazon.com is ramping up its selection. Traditional retailers from Gap to Ralph Lauren are suffering deep declines and closing stores in a struggle to adapt. Who will survive?

Globe and Mail

How transit hubs can spur dense development

As head of North America’s largest transit system for two years, Carmen Bianco knows a thing or two about getting people to work and back. The former president of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which shuttles more than 8.7 million passengers around daily on its buses and subways.

Globe and Mail

Avison Young opens new office in Berlin, Germany

Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced today that the company has opened a new office in Berlin, Germany. The new Berlin office represents Avison Young’s fifth office in Germany and its ninth office in Europe.

Canada Newswire

Trez Capital welcomes James Kim, AVP Origination, Toronto

James Kim  has been appointed to the position of Associate Vice President, Origination with Trez Capital. Mr. Kim will be based in Toronto and will be responsible for sourcing and negotiating new mortgages in Eastern Canada.  Mr. Kim has over 9 years of experience in the finance industry having commenced his career with TD Commercial Banking.

Trez Capital News Release

Market Trends and Research

Real estate remains a hot M&A play but numbers down

The number of mergers and acquisitions slipped in the first half of the year as the number of resource deals slumped, though the number of real estate sector deals remained red hot.  FP Infomart data shows that there were 223 M&A deals involving Canadian companies in the second quarter down from 295 deals this time last year.

Financial Post

Businesses pushed out of Vancouver’s west side

Vancouver’s sky-high real estate prices are changing the shape of its retail districts – with pricey neighbourhoods feeling some pain, and formerly neglected pockets of the city getting a boost. Several long-time businesses on the city’s expensive west side are either closing down or moving.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Temple Hotels Inc. announces strategic review

Temple Hotels Inc. (TPH-T) intends to undertake a strategic review of the company. The board of directors has appointed CBRE Limited as financial advisor to assist in the process.  The objective of the strategic review is to evluate the portfolio and operations of the company and may include partnerships, portfolio sales and related opportunities.

Canada Newswire

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT increases size of financing

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT has amended the terms of its previously announced financing to increase the size of the offering to $127.8 million, consisting of a public offering of approximately $57.8 million of trust units and $65 million aggregate principal amount of 5.25% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures, and a concurrent private placement of $5 million of trust units.

Marketwired

Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT announces bought deal financing

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T) announced approximately $100 million of new capital in a bought deal financing to support the accretive acquisition of high quality healthcare real estate in its core international markets.

Marketwired

Retail

Agrium to buy U.S. agriculture retail outlets

Agrium Inc. will acquire 18 retail locations throughout the U.S. Midwest in several states bordering Canada. The seller is Cargill AgHorizons, part of one of North America’s largest grain and agricultural products businesses. The transaction doesn’t involve Cargill’s Canadian retail business.

Globe and Mail

Jean Coutu Group stable in first quarter

Jean Coutu Group (PJC.A-T) reported Tuesday a stable performance in its first quarter. The Quebec giant announces a net result of $49 million, or 27 cents per share, compared to $50.6 million, or 27 cents per share, this time last year.

Montreal Gazette

Loblaw asks major suppliers to lower costs

Loblaw (L-T) president Galen Weston, who observed in May that consumers were getting fed up with rising food prices, now wants his company’s largest suppliers to shoulder a bigger part of the inflationary burden. The company is asking the group to cut costs by 1.45 per cent for shipments received by the country’s largest grocery chain on or after Sept. 4.

Montreal Gazette

Restaurants and Eateries

Smoke’s is seeking global poutine domination

Smoke’s Brands, most famous for its poutine-only restaurants, has opened 39 new locations and has dozens more in development about a year after the chain announced it would expand to more than 1,000 shops by 2020.

Financial Post

New Development

Vancouver Port’s expansion delayed as NIMBYism

In a city and province flush with activism against just about everything, the federally owned Port of Vancouver has its very own, very determined opposition group. It calls itself APE – Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary B.C. — and claims to represent “concerned citizens” who worry that “various mega projects involving port and industrial development put the Fraser at risk.”

Financial Post

Infrastructure

Stantec-affiliated company project in Silicon Valley city

A California city has awarded a multimillion-dollar sanitary project to a global water and energy engineering firm that merged with Stantec Inc. just over three months ago.  MWH Global, now part of Stantec, received a $110-million infrastructure improvement contract from the City of San Mateo public works department to eliminate sanitary overflows and unauthorized discharges.

Edmonton Journal

Say goodbye to elevated stretch of Bonaventure Expressway

Jean Drapeau built it in 1966 to link the Champlain Bridge and downtown in time for Expo 67. Fifty years later, Montreal’s current mayor, Denis Coderre, is demolishing part of it to create a signature new entryway to the city in time for Montreal’s 375th birthday next year.

Montreal Gazette

Other

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