Sales let RioCan up its distribution

Article Excerpt

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 326.5 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.4; Dividend yield: 6.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan. com) owns all or part of 294 shopping centres and other properties in Canada. That includes 16 properties now under development. The trust recently announced a new strategy to focus on six major urban markets: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. As a result, RioCan plans to sell about 100 properties in smaller cities over the next two to three years. The trust expects those transactions will raise a total of $1.5 billion (net of transaction costs). It will use about half of the proceeds to buy back units. RioCan will apply the other half to its debt and to funding new developments. The trust has also raised its monthly distribution by 2.1%. Starting with the February 2018 payment, investors will receive $0.12 a unit instead of $0.1175….