BTB Real Estate Investment Trust (BTB-UN-T) has announced a series of transactions which will see the trust acquire nine industrial properties and one office asset in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and divest a portfolio of four assets in Cornwall, Ont.

BTB will pay $94 million for the 10 acquisitions and will receive $26 million for the properties it is selling.

The acquisitions allow BTB to increase its exposure to the industrial sector, the trust says in the announcement Wednesday morning, and also to expand its operations into Western Canada.

The nine industrial properties total about 406,000 square feet and are located in Leduc, Acheson and Edmonton in Alberta, as well as in Saskatoon. The office building (14,475 square feet) its located in Edmonton.

The acquisition portfolio

BTB has waived conditions on the portfolio and the sale is expected to close before the end of the year.

BTB said it intends to finance the acquisitions through $62 million in mortgages, about $19 million from the Cornwall property disposition and the remainder through cash-on-hand and its credit facilities.

The properties involved are:

Cornwall portfolio disposition

The Cornwall portfolio involves three buildings at 705, 725 and 805 Boundary Rd., as well as 2901 Marleau Ave.

The total square footage is 450,776 square feet.

BTB says the $26 million sale price exceeds the most fair value assessment by 18 per cent. They were purchased for $15 million.

This sale is slated to close in January 2022.

Cornwall is located along the St. Lawrence Seaway in Eastern Ontario, near the Quebec border.

In recent years it has drawn significant attention from distribution firms due to its location, which is also on the Highway 401 corridor between Montreal and Toronto.

BTB REIT’s growth and strategy

At the close of these transactions, Montreal-based BTB will own 71 properties, representing a leasable area of approximately 5.6 million square feet. BTB’s total asset value will surpass $1.1 billion.

The trust usurped the $1 billion mark in asset values with its most recent acquisition in October, two office buildings in the buildings in Technoparc Montreal which were bought from Broccolini for $74 million.

In the wake of that acquisition, CEO Michel Léonard told RENX the trust hopes to hit the $2 billion mark within five years.

He identified both technology-based suburban office properties and the industrial sector as two core focuses for the REIT.

Léonard had also discussed increasing BTB’s geographical diversification in Canada, noting it is also looking to expand into the suburban Toronto market.