Primaris agrees to takeover

Article Excerpt

PRIMARIS RETAIL REIT $27.22 (Toronto symbol PMZ.UN; Units outstanding: 98.2 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.primarisreit.com) has now agreed to a joint takeover bid from rivals H&R REIT $23.02 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 194.7 million; Market cap: $4.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.9%; www.hr-reit.com) and a consortium led by Canadian private equity firm Kingsett Capital. Under the offer, Primaris unitholders can choose to receive 1.166 units of H&R or $28.00 cash per unit, subject to a maximum cash amount of $1.28 billion. The transaction will see H&R end up with 17 of Primaris’s shopping centres plus nine more that Primaris plans to buy before the deal closes. Kingsett will get the remaining 18 properties, although it will then sell Primaris’s Oakville Place and a 50% stake in its Burlington Mall for $362 million to RIOCAN REIT $27.09 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 297.8 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; TSINetwork…