InterRent announced Tuesday that CLV Group and Singapore-based investment firm GIC are offering to purchase the REIT for $13.55 per unit, or about $2 billion.
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Ottawa-based InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust’s unit price rose sharply Tuesday after the organization agreed to be acquired by a group that includes executive chair Mike McGahan in a $4-billion all-cash deal.
InterRent announced Tuesday that CLV Group and Singapore-based investment firm GIC are offering to purchase the REIT for $13.55 per unit, or about $2 billion. In addition to his role at InterRent, McGahan is the chief executive and controlling shareholder of CLV Group.
InterRent said the transaction is valued at a total of about $4 billion including the assumption of net debt.
The REIT’s units were up almost 15 per cent at $13.60 in mid-afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
“We are delighted to partner together with GIC on this transformative transaction, combining our 50 years of operating experience and GIC's strong track record as a long-term investor in Canada and around the world,” McGahan, who was named CEO of the Year by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade in 2023, said in a news release.
“We look forward to continuing to deliver exceptional value to residents through the operational excellence of our combined CLV and InterRent teams.”
McGahan declined to comment further when contacted by OBJ on Tuesday morning.
InterRent said the bid is priced at a 35 per cent premium over the price of InterRent units on March 7, when media first began reporting on a push by activist hedge fund Anson Funds for the REIT to be sold.
Anson Funds holds a nine per cent stake in InterRent, which owns about 13,000 apartment units in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, and is the largest investor in the REIT. The Globe and Mail reported in March that the hedge fund was campaigning for a potential sale of the REIT after pushing InterRent’s board and management to stop buying more properties and instead focus on selling some of its assets to reduce its debt.
The REIT said it struck a special committee that hired National Bank Financial to evaluate InterRent’s worth. NBF pegged the REIT’s fair market value at between $12.75 and $14 per unit as of Monday.
InterRent’s board is launching a 40-day “go-shop period” beginning Wednesday and ending on July 6 in an effort to find a better offer. According to the Globe and Mail, the REIT’s board has rejected a number of takeover bids in recent months, including one from global asset manager BlackRock, which already owns a stake in InterRent.
“While we are pleased to see the InterRent board take a concrete step toward closing its valuation discount, we will see how the go-shop process unfolds as we believe there is potential for more value to be realized,” Anson said in a statement after the acquisition was announced Tuesday.
InterRent said it will pay CLV and GIC a termination fee of $49 million if the deal is called off during the go-shop period or $79 million if it is cancelled after July 6. The buyers would owe InterRent a reverse termination fee of about $89 million if they were to back out of the agreement.
“We are pleased to provide immediate and certain premium value to our unitholders through this all-cash transaction with CLV Group and GIC, while also allowing InterRent to solicit superior proposals through a go-shop period of 40 days,” InterRent CEO Brad Cutsey said in a news release Tuesday, adding the REIT has built a “best-in-class operating platform” with a “portfolio of well-located properties in some of Canada's strongest urban rental markets.”
The deal requires approval of a two-thirds majority vote by unitholders as well as a majority vote by unitholders, excluding CLV Group, its affiliates and any other unitholders required to be excluded.
It also requires court and regulatory approvals, consents and approvals from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and certain existing lenders.
If approved, the transaction is expected to close by early 2026, and InterRent will be de-listed from the TSX.
BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial acted as advisers to InterRent, while Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP is serving as legal counsel to the special committee and Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP is providing legal advice to InterRent.
Scotiabank is also advising the buyers, with Goodmans LLP working with CLV Group and Stikeman Elliott LLP acting for GIC. Ottawa-based LaBarge Weinstein LLP is counselling CLV Group in connection with the joint venture arrangements, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is working with GIC in the same capacity.
The deal is poised to cement CLV Group’s status as a leading force in Ottawa’s real estate development and property management sectors.
The firm’s roots stretch back to 1969, when its predecessor, Levinson-Viner, was founded. McGahan, who began his real estate career at Levinson-Viner, later founded his own company, Commvesco, which then acquired Levinson-Viner in 1998 to form the CLV Group.
A decade later, CLV became the property development and management arm of InterRent. Today, the company manages more than $3 billion in assets and has more than five million square feet of property development in its pipeline.
In recent years, CLV has become a trailblazer in the growing trend of turning aging office buildings into multi-residential assets.
The company spearheaded the conversion of an 11-storey former government building at 473 Albert St. into a 158-unit rental apartment complex called The Slayte. CLV is currently working on a second office-to-residential conversion project at 360 Laurier Ave. W., which will be home to 139 rental units.
– With additional reporting from The Canadian Press
