RioCan poised for big gain from sale

Article Excerpt

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 317.4 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.2; Dividend yield: 6.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) and department store operator Hudson’s Bay Co. (Toronto symbol HBC) have a joint venture that owns or controls 10 Hudson’s Bay stores in major Canadian cities. The shared firm also holds 50% of two shopping malls. Hudson’s Bay owns 88.1% of the joint venture, while RioCan owns the remaining 11.9%. The partners are reportedly close to selling Hudson’s Bay’s flagship store in downtown Vancouver for $650 million. RioCan’s share of the proceeds would total $77.35 million. That’s equal to 52% of the trust’s first quarter cash flow of $149.2 million, or $0.46 a unit. RioCan is a buy. buy. …