DUNDEE REIT $34.01 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 66.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Dividend yield: 6.4%) is buying Whiterock REIT (Toronto symbol WRK.UN) for $580 million in cash and units. The purchase will make Dundee Canada’s fourth-largest REIT by market cap, up from sixth.
Whiterock owns 88 office, industrial and retail properties in eight Canadian provinces and two U.S. states. These properties contain over 10.8 million square fee of leasable area. Dundee already owns and manages 18.9 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space.
Dundee’s growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk, but it is steadily diversifying its holdings outside western Canada by purchasing more properties in eastern Canada. Whiterock has 57% of its assets in Ontario, 14% in Quebec and 6% in the Atlantic provinces.
Dundee REIT is still a buy.