Calgary-based rental property firm taken over in $4.8B deal

A Calgary-headquartered rental property company has been acquired in a $4.8-billion deal involving one of its shareholders.

Northview Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns and operates residential apartment rentals in eight provinces and two territories, announced Thursday it has agreed to be taken over by Toronto-based Starlight Group Property Holdings Inc. and Kingsett Capital Inc. at a price of $36.25 per unit, a 12-per-cent premium over Northview’s near all-time high closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Starlight president and CEO Daniel Drimmer owns or controls approximately 13 per cent of Northview REIT units.

The deal will give REIT unitholders the option to continue to invest alongside Starlight and Kingsett in a newly formed, multi-residential fund to be publicly listed upon the deal’s closing.

The fund will hold a geographically diversified portfolio of more than 10,900 of Northview’s multi-residential suites, more than 340 of Northview’s current execusuites, and more than 1.1 million square feet of Northview’s current commercial portfolio.

In a news release, Starlight — which will operate the Northview properties — said it has high regard for Northview’s management and intends to retain substantially all of the company’s site-level employees and operational staff, as well as its offices in Calgary and Toronto.

“We look forward to building on Northview’s tenant focus by maintaining high-quality, well-operated and sustainable buildings,” Drimmer said in a news release.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020.