RioCan Real Estate sells U.S. portfolio of 49 retail properties

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
May 26, 2016

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust announced on Wednesday the sale of its U.S. portfolio of 49 retail properties located in the Northeastern U.S. and Texas.
 
The sale of the portfolio was first announced in December 2015 and was sold for a total sales price of US$1.9 billion to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII ("Blackstone").
 

"With the sale completed we can now completely focus on our Canadian operations, development and redevelopment portfolio and begin to put the net sale proceeds to use to create one of the strongest balance sheet profiles for REITs in Canada,” says Edward Sonshine Chief Executive Officer of RioCan, in a news statement.
 
In December, RioCan said this sale would help ensure ample capital to fund its acquisition from Kimco and to significantly deleverage the Trust's balance sheet.

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RioCan is Canada's largest real estate investment trust with a total enterprise value of approximately $16 billion as at March 31, 2016.