An Attractive Yield and Tax Profile
CANMARC intends to pay stable and growing monthly cash distributions to unitholders. To that end, it adopted a distribution policy pursuant to which it makes monthly cash distributions equal to, on an annual basis, approximately 90% of adjusted funds from operations. It is estimated that approximately 65% of distributions to the unitholders in 2011 will be tax deffered because such amounts will be non-taxable when received by unitholders, although these amounts will reduce the adjusted cost base on their units.
An Established Diversified Portfolio
CANMARC owns a large, established and diversified portfolio of commercial and multi-family residential real estate across Canada, with an emphasis on commercial properties in the retail and office sectors.
This portfolio includes 115 income-producing commercial properties that comprise 4.7 million square feet of GLA in the retail sector, 3.1 million square feet of GLA in the office sector and 1.6 million square feet of GLA in the industrial sector. It also includes 464 multi-family residential units including 1 income-producing multi-family residential property. Properties are located across Canada, with significant property clusters in three major markets: the Greater Montréal Area, Atlantic Canada and Calgary.
Landmark and Prominent Properties
CANMARC owns several Canadian commercial properties located in prime metropolitan locations with national investment-grade tenants and long-term leases. These landmark properties include:
- CN Central Station Complex, a mixed-use office, retail and rail transportation complex in the heart of Montréal’s central business district;
- Place Alexis Nihon, a mixed-use office, retail and multi-family residential complex in the west sector of Montréal’s central business district;
- Centre Laval, a prominent regional shopping centre within walking distance from a subway station, located in the core business area of the sprawling suburb of Laval;
- Place Longueuil, an enclosed shopping centre serving at a strategic high density entry point into the growing and high density South Shore of Montréal;
- Scotia Centre, a 42-storey Class A office tower with a 3-storey retail concourse located in the heart of Calgary's financial and retail district;
- Confederation Court Complex, an enclosed multi-level retail mall and office towers complex in the heart of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island’s central business district;
- Papineau-Lévesque Complex, situated within three kilometres of downtown, in Montréal's broadcasting district, this complex is comprised of two adjacent office tower; and
- PennWest Plaza, a pair of Class AA office buildings in Calgary in which CANMARC owns a 10% minority interest.
Experienced Internalized Management
CANMARC’s senior management team is highly experienced and fully internalized. More importantly, it has a proven ability to manage, develop, finance, and acquire properties across multiple asset classes and across Canada.
To efficiently manage our properties, we are using a state-of-the-art integrated management information system that enables management to see in real time the exact financial and reporting status of any asset across the country, thereby achieving significant internal operating efficiencies. CANMARC can also count on over 200 employees across our three operating platforms in Montreal, Halifax and Calgary.
A Unique Greater Montreal Area Real Estate Expertise
With nine important commercial properties in the Greater Montreal Area representing 3.8 million square feet of gross leasable area, CANMARC has a strong presence in the Montreal metropolitan area. In addition, CANMARC’s head office and a significant portion of our management team are located in Montreal.
We possess a deep knowledge of this market, which we intend to leverage to grow value for our unitholders. CANMARC’s significant expertise and strong reputation in the Greater Montreal Area real estate market stemmed from the acquisition of the Alexis Nihon REIT in 2007, in which members of our management team were intimately involved.
Diversified, High-Quality Tenants
CANMARC has over 900 tenants leasing space in our 116 commercial properties. Several of our largest and most credit-worthy tenants are under long-term triple-net leases, including brand-name tenants like CN, Atlantic Coop, Zellers, PennWest and RSM Richter Chamberland.
Our tenant profile is well-diversified, providing an attractive mix of national, regional and local tenants, diversified by industry. Our close relationship with our high quality tenants is among our key strengths.
A Prudent Debt Strategy
CANMARC’s debt strategy incorporates a combination of short, medium and long-term debt maturities that are appropriate for overall debt level of our portfolio. Together, the REIT’s well-balanced debt maturities, staggered leases, credit facility and conservative yet attractive adjusted funds from operations payout ratio provide us with significant flexibility.
