Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, April 20, 2018

Article Excerpt

DREAM OFFICE REIT, $23.56, Toronto symbol D.UN, owns and manages 42 office and retail properties in major Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary. Its occupancy rate is 90.4%. With the July 2017 distribution, Dream Office reduced its monthly payout from $0.125 to $0.08333. The annual rate of $1.00 still yields a high 4.2%. Dream Office cut its distribution as a result of a strategic plan to sell $1.2 billion of its less-important properties. It used the cash to pay down its total debt, from $2.65 billion at the end of 2016 to $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2017. That’s a high, but still manageable, 85% of its $1.65 billion market cap (the total value of all units outstanding). The REIT is now offering to buy back up to 10.0 million of its units at $24.00 each (for a total of $240.0 million). That would reduce the number of units outstanding by 14.3%. Investors that wish to participate have until May 3,…