Investors will benefit from their narrower focus

Article Excerpt

H&R and Choice Properties continue to shed their less-important holdings. Focusing on their top properties helps supports their current distributions, and sets the stage for future increases. H&R REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $13 is a top pick for 2022. The REIT (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Units outstanding: 288.4 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Distribution yield: 4.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.hr-reit.com) recently spun off most of its retail properties, including all of its enclosed shopping malls, to a new publicly traded REIT (called Primaris REIT, see box) that it created with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). H&R unitholders received one unit of Primaris for every four H&R units they held. As a group, they now own 74% of Primaris, while HOOPP owns 26%. The spinoff is part of H&R’s new strategy to focus on its more-promising residential and industrial properties in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and the U.S. Sun Belt and Gateway cities (which contain corporate headquarters, educational and cultural institutions). After the…