Cominar unitholders voted on Tuesday in favor of the acquisition of the Quebec real estate investment trust by a consortium led by Canderel.
The transaction was approved at a special meeting that lasted barely twenty minutes.
Cominar revealed on October 24 an agreement with a consortium led by Canderel surrounding its sale at a unit price of $ 11.75 per share, a transaction valued at 5.7 billion including debt.
As part of this transaction, Groupe Mach must acquire certain commercial and office buildings, while the American investment firm Blackstone must recover 190 industrial buildings.
While institutional investor Letko Brosseau has publicly opposed the transaction in recent weeks, the two major voting advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis recommended supporting the proposed transaction.
The arrangement reached with the consortium led by Canderel came at the end of a strategic review process lasting more than 13 months, notably launched due to financial difficulties at Cominar and when the pandemic caused additional uncertainty surrounding the activities.
Cominar’s management explained that the strategic review was mainly motivated by “structural challenges” exacerbated by the pandemic.
The unitholders had thus been warned that maintaining the listing on the stock exchange involved “important” issues.
A “significant” issue of shares could therefore be necessary to “better calibrate” the debt levels and improve the flexibility to ensure the continuation of activities as a public company, which could lead to a “significant” dilution of the debt. ” have unitholders.
During the review process, Cominar’s advisers claim to have formally approached 33 parties (including 25 financial investors and 8 strategic investors) potentially interested in all or parts of the business. Seven financial investors and three strategic have signed confidentiality agreements allowing for due diligence, it is said.
Claiming to hold a 3.3% stake in Cominar, Letko Brosseau notably stressed that the time seemed ill-chosen to sell the company since Cominar is just emerging from the pandemic which has led to long closures of shopping centers and offices in 2020. and in 2021.
Cominar owns 310 industrial, commercial and office buildings in Quebec and Ontario.
The sale of Cominar is undoubtedly the commercial real estate transaction of the year in Quebec and possibly the most important ever in the province.
Cominar’s real estate portfolio includes properties such as Gare Centrale de Montréal, Mail Champlain, in Brossard, Place Longueuil, Centropolis, in Laval, Complexe Jules-Dallaire and Place de la Cité, in Quebec.