March 19, 2012, Vancouver, BC – Abacus Private Equity (“Abacus”) is pleased to announce that its real estate investment division, Abacus Real Estate Investments Ltd. (“AbREIL”), completed a number of property sales in the last 15 months realizing significant gains on its investments.
“We are very pleased with the results of our disposition program. By taking advantage of a time in the market when commercial real estate investments were in low supply, we were able to culminate a 5-year investment and asset management program by opportunistically selling certain holdings. We are proud to report that we significantly outperformed our acquisition pro-formas making these portfolios outstanding investments” said John Weiler, chief operating officer of AbREIL.
AbREIL disposed of 13 properties, representing approximately 500,000 square feet of office, industrial and retail properties in Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, Calgary, Sudbury, and North Bay for a combined value of $94.8 million. As the active partner and asset manager, AbREIL owned these properties in a partnership with Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM), a major U.S. REIT. “Abacus is a skilled asset manager, and we are pleased with how they handled the sale of these properties,” said Kelly Smith, managing director of Canadian Operations at Kimco Realty Corp.
About Abacus Real Estate Investments
AbREIL specializes in acquiring properties of all asset types. Through management and repositioning initiatives, we offer our principals and partners attractive returns. Our primary goal is to create a diversified portfolio of income producing real estate properties across Canada. The assets in our portfolio currently include industrial, retail and office properties. Target acquisitions include assets with historically strong and stable cash flows or unique value-creation opportunities. Our team consists of leading professionals with a winning combination of industry experience, complementary skills and unflagging determination.
AbREIL executes transactions using its own funds or in conjunction with institutional investors. AbREIL is actively working on a number of new real estate transactions and is open to investments in all property types and geographies.
About Abacus Private Equity
Abacus is an independent investment firm which has been successfully acquiring Canadian and international businesses for over a decade. Since 2005, Abacus, directly or indirectly through its investment funds, has closed transactions with an aggregate asset value in excess of $4.8 billion. Entities under Abacus’ management have an asset value in excess of $2.4 billion.
With offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, Abacus employs a cross-functional team of over 40 people to assist with the evaluation and completion of its acquisitions and has over 1,700 people in its portfolio companies. Abacus places a special emphasis on the taxation elements of its acquisitions, seeking to provide additional value to vendors through efficient transaction structures.
For further information please visit our website at AbacusPE.com or contact:
T: (416) 214-3336