Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What is your latest thinking on First Capital Realty as a potential buy?

Article Excerpt

First Capital Realty, $16.11, symbol FCR on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 188.6 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; www.firstcapitalrealty.ca), owns, develops and operates shopping centres throughout Canada. The company focuses on big cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton and Quebec City. First Capital owns interests in 165 properties, including four under development. The company’s shopping centres are mostly anchored by supermarkets and drugstores. Its largest tenants include Sobeys, Loblaw, Metro Inc. and Shoppers Drug Mart. Gazit Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazit Globe Ltd., which trades on the Tel-Aviv stock exchange, holds 48.4% of First Capital Realty’s common shares. Gazit Canada has said that it won’t raise its stake in First Capital to more than 50%. Last month, First Capital paid $110 million for Hazelton Lanes, a 205,000-square-foot shopping centre in Yorkville, one of Canada’s major shopping districts and one of Toronto’s most affluent neighbourhoods. Hazelton Lanes is anchored by a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods grocery store. First Capital also bought the Macleod Plaza,…