Cominar gets competition board approval for $905M takeover of Canmarc REIT
By The Canadian Press | January 26, 2012
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QUEBEC - Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:CUF.UN) announced Thursday that its $905.4-million takeover bid for Canmarc REIT has received federal competition board approval.
Quebec-based Cominar said a "no-action" letter it has received from the Commissioner of Competition confirming there will be no challenge means that it now has all necessary regulatory approvals to proceed with completion of the acquisition.
Cominar had been chasing a hostile bid for Canmarc (TSX:CMQ.UN) since late last year and finally won the support of Canmarc's board when it increased its offer earlier this month.
Canmarc stakeholders are being offered either $16.50 in cash for each of their units or 0.7607 trust units of Cominar, with an aggregate maximum of 16 million Cominar units available under that option.
The all-cash purchase price represents a premium of 24 per cent to the closing price of $13.28 per Canmarc unit on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Nov. 25, the last trading day before Cominar announced it intention to make an offer.
The current offer, up for an earlier bid of $15.30 in cash in a deal that had been valued at $840 million, is open until Jan. 27 unless further extended.
Canmarc's portfolio is comprised of some 9.4 million square feet of commercial gross leasable area and 464 multi-family residential units in Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Western Canada and Ontario.
Cominar is the largest commercial property owner in Quebec with a portfolio of 269 properties consisting of 53 office, 55 retail and 161 industrial and mixed-use buildings with a combined total of 21 million square feet in the Greater Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa-Gatineau areas, as well as in the Atlantic provinces.
Cominar units were up five cents at $21.85 Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Canmarc units were up a penny at $16.52.