A rounding error for RioCan

Article Excerpt

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24.29 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 325.8 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.8%; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 300 shopping centres in Canada. That includes 15 properties now under development. Sears Canada Inc. (Toronto symbol SCC) recently filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). As part of its planned restructuring, Sears will close 59 of its 135 departments stores and other outlets across Canada. Of its total number of locations, nine are in RioCan’s malls. Sears plans to close seven of those stores. However the impact on the REIT should be small, as those seven stores account for just 0.4% of RioCan’s annual rental revenue. RioCan is still a buy. buy…