Vancouver asset stake sold by teachers

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is selling a minority stake in its Vancouver portfolio to the Ontario Pension Board and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, according to multiple sources.

Tenants at 701 West Georgia were issued an estoppel certificate this month, indicating there had been a change in ownership at the building, one of the many put on the block by Cadillac Fairview Corp., Teachers’ real estate arm.

Bloomberg News reported in August that the pension fund was looking to shed a minority interest in its $ 4 billion Vancouver portfolio of office buildings and malls, including Pacific Centre.

“The sale makes perfect sense. Cadillac was not going to sell to a sovereign wealth f und,” s ai d one source. “They wanted a passive investor like OPB. It’s business as usual for them selling to someone like that. You are talking about some of the best real estate in downtown Vancouver.”

Bloomberg reported the Cadillac portfolio for sale included 14 properties in downtown Vancouver and Richmond. Among the key assets is the 1.6 million square Pacific Centre and its eight office towers comprising two million square feet, including 701 West Georgia.

CB Richard Ellis, which had the co- listing, would not confirm the sale or the properties involved. Sources indicate that Cadillac was looking to off- load between a 25 per cent t o 40 per cent stake in its Vancouver holdings. The deal has not closed, according to sources.

Another source suggested while the deal was heavily marketed there was an incentive to sell to another domestic buyer.

Vancouver has seen an influx of foreign buyers into its commercial market in 2016.

“They did the right thing but they also got the right price,” said a source. “These type of Triple- A assets are the domain of the pensions, and to the extent they can circulate them among themselves, they will list them.”

THEY WANTED A PASSIVE INVESTOR LIKE OPB.