Hazelview Investments has announced a “strategic review” of its Four Quadrant Global Real Estate Partners fund to find a way to “maximize value and strengthen the fund's liquidity position for unitholders.”

The strategic review will “explore a broad range of potential alternatives for the recapitalization of the fund, strategic portfolio sales, or other transactions with a view to unlocking value and generating liquidity for the fund and unitholders,” according to a press release from Toronto-based Hazelview.

TD Securities and RBC Capital Markets have been retained as the financial advisors, with TD serving as the lead. There is no guarantee the review will result in a transaction of any kind.

The Four Quadrant Global Real Estate Partners fund is managed by Hazelview Securities Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hazelview Investments Inc.

“We continue to believe in the quality of our assets and the real estate portfolio we have assembled, so our central focus is unlocking that value and generating liquidity for unitholders,” said Corrado Russo, managing partner and CIO of Hazelview Investments, in the announcement. “We have engaged advisors to help identify potential value maximization transactions for the Four Quadrant Fund.”

The Four Quadrant fund

The fund, also known as 4Q, consists of the following four quadrants: private equity, public equity, private debt and public debt. The 4Q fund is heavily weighted toward private equity, however, which made up 81.4 per cent of its portfolio as of Dec. 31, according to a fact sheet on Hazelview’s website.

By country, the fund is concentrated on Canada, where 78.9 per cent of its assets are concentrated. Second is the United States at 18.5 per cent, followed by Ireland at 0.9 per cent, Japan and Italy each at 0.7 per cent, and Germany at 0.3 per cent.

By sector, multifamily assets represent 29.8 per cent of the 4Q fund’s assets, with residential assets a close second at 26 per cent. Office assets make up 17.7 per cent and industrial assets make up 7.4 per cent, followed by various other sectors.

According to a year-end update, the 4Q fund has a multifamily portfolio of over 4,150 units with an average occupancy of 92 per cent, approximately 2 million sq. ft of office space, 740,000 sq. ft of industrial space, and 640,000 sq. ft of retail space.

Key assets include its “MR5” portfolio of 30 multifamily properties in Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Windsor and Edmonton; its “Heartland” portfolio of 14 multi-residential properties in Saskatchewan; the T3 Junction mass timber office building in Toronto; and the 23-storey Millennium Tower office building in Calgary.

Additionally, the fund also has over 3,600 units under construction, most notably at the multi-tower Bloor and Dufferin project in Toronto Hazelview is co-developing with Fitzrovia. Earlier this month, Hazelview announced the launch of Station House, two rental towers within the project.

Looking For liquidity

The announcement of the strategic review comes after Hazelview has halted redemptions on the fund multiple times in recent years. Hazelview halted redemptions in Q4 2023, then again in Q2 2024.

Hazelview’s webpage for the Four Quadrant Global Real Estate Partners fund also currently states the fund paused its five per cent annualized distribution, which is paid monthly, in December 2025.

Year-end results show the 4Q fund last had a positive year in 2022, when it saw an overall return of 0.8 per cent. Fund returns were then down 3.3 per cent per cent in 2023, 11.6 per cent in 2024, and 13 per cent in 2025. For 2025, the fund’s private equity quadrant was the biggest loser, seeing a loss of 7.9 per cent.

The search for liquidity is not unique to Hazelview, however, as numerous other real estate investment firms including Nicola Wealth, Trez Capital, Fiera Capital, and Romspen have slowed or paused redemptions on a range of investment vehicles.

After riding the real estate high for years, the market has taken a significant downward turn, gains have dropped or turned into losses, and investors have increasingly tried to pull out their money. To avoid a surge in redemptions, investment managers have thus halted redemptions for indefinite periods as they look for liquidity, because assets like real estate cannot normally be sold on short notice.

Optimistic outlook from Hazelview

Nonetheless, Hazelview remains optimistic. In its annual real estate investment outlook published last month, Hazelview noted there remains a strong fundamental backdrop.

“New supply as a percentage of existing stock for many property types including retail, industrial, residential, and office, is forecasted to decline materially in most developed regions, potentially reaching all-time lows in markets like the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, and key Asia-Pacific economies,” the Hazelview outlook states.

“At the same time, demand remains resilient, with occupancy rates trending above historical averages across major property types.

"This combination supports improved pricing power for operators and underpins expectations for stronger rent growth.”