Big buy for Dundee

Article Excerpt

DUNDEE REIT $30.90 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 58.9 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Dividend yield: 7.1%) will buy 29 office buildings in Ontario and Alberta for $831.8 million. The sellers are U.S.-based Blackstone Real Estate Advisors LP and Canadian firm Slate Properties. As part of the agreement, Dundee will sell off five of these properties for $142 million. The 24 properties it will keep are worth $689.8 million, and cover 2.7 million square feet. Eleven of these buildings are in Toronto’s financial district, two are outside the city’s downtown, two are in Ottawa, five are in Calgary and four are in Edmonton. The deal should close on August 15, 2011. Dundee has now spent $1.6 billion on acquisitions in 2011. That follows $900 million of acquisitions in 2010. Dundee’s growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk. However, its purchases are helping it cut its reliance on western Canada. At the start of 2010, about 70% of Dundee’s properties were in…