GE Makes $2.4B Play in East, Central Canada

TORONTO-In a transaction valued at $2.4 billion (CDN), GE Real Estate has agreed to acquire a major block of the Dundee REIT’s holdings, the two organizations have announced. Toronto-based Dundee will sell assets in Newfoundland, Ontario and Quebec, while GE Capital will also buy an 18% stake in the slimmed-down REIT, which will continue to own $1.4 billion of office and industrial product in Canada’s western flank.

“Canada is among the top real estate markets in the world, and the Dundee REIT portfolio is made up of a large number of well-positioned assets in strong growth markets,” says Katherine Lee, managing director of GE’s Canadian operations. “We are looking forward to working with Dundee and growing this relationship.” Dundee CEO Michael Cooper says in a release that the transaction provides “many benefits” for unit holders, further opining that it “demonstrates the intrinsic value of the Dundee portfolio, the Dundee executives and its employees.”

Specific properties were not detailed, but Dundee’s website puts the REIT’s overall portfolio at 22 million sf, primarily office and industrial. In its home base of Ontario, Dundee has an office portfolio of 3.92 million sf. Besides a 50% stake in Dundee’s headquarters building, the 413,000-sf State Street Financial Centre, other large assets in that sector are the 353,000-sf Aviva Corporate Center in Scarborough, the Woodbine Steeles Corporate Centre in Markham, and 55 St. Clair Ave. West, a 292,000-sf building in Toronto.