Updates on RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, TransCanada Corp. and Manitoba Tel

Article Excerpt

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $26.78 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 325.1 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.3%; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 301 shopping centres in Canada. The trust is teaming up with Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (Toronto symbol BEI.UN) to build and operate an 11-storey residential/retail tower in Calgary. Boardwalk will operate the residential units, while RioCan will manage the retail portion. This new building will sit on land that is part of a Calgary shopping centre owned by RioCan. Under the terms of the deal, Boardwalk will pay $2.9 million to RioCan for a 50% stake in this parcel of land. The partners will spend $60 million to $70 million ($30 million to $35 million each) to construct the tower. The Boardwalk deal is part of RioCan’s strategy to add more residential and office units to its malls. That’s partly because the growing popularity of online shopping has hurt demand for retail space. RioCan…