Cadillac Fairview has acquired the residential division of Lincoln Property Company, which had been part of one of the largest privately owned multifamily and commercial real estate operators in the United States.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but Cadillac Fairview had originally taken a 49 per cent stake in Lincoln Residential in 2019 and has now acquired a 95 per cent interest in the firm. The acquisition fulfills what CF calls a “carefully planned transition” which began with its initial investment.

Mack Pogue, who founded the parent Lincoln Property Company in 1965, and Tim Byrne, Lincoln Residential’s retiring CEO, have retained a five per cent interest in the business.

The transaction is also part of a wider plan which splits Lincoln into two entities and puts new leadership in place at both.

The residential arm will operate as a separate business with no further connection to Lincoln Property Company.

“The closing of this transaction marks the beginning of a new era for both companies,” said John Sullivan, president and CEO of Cadillac Fairview, in the announcement.

“For the past five years Cadillac Fairview has been actively focused on growing and diversifying its global real estate portfolio with best-in-class partners, and since collaborating with Lincoln Residential in 2019 we’ve had tremendous success, which speaks to the strong collaboration between our leadership teams.”

The CF and Lincoln relationship

Based in Toronto, CF manages the global real estate portfolio for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, managing in excess of $40 billion in assets across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Under the leadership of Pogue and Byrne, Lincoln Residential grew to more than 4,500 employees, has completed over $1.5 billion of acquisitions and has another $2 billion under development. 

In 2019, Lincoln and CF co-sponsored a long-term investment program to develop and acquire high-quality multifamily assets in top U.S. markets.

To date under this program, Lincoln has completed over $1.5 billion of acquisitions and has another $2 billion under development, with significant planned expansion under the new ownership structure.      

As part of the acquisition, Duncan Osborne is succeeding Byrne as CEO, after Byrne held the position since 1984. 

Osborne has over 25 years of experience in real estate, investment and commercial transactions.

He was most recently executive vice-president, investments with CF, where he led the firm’s international business and spearheaded the partnership with Lincoln.

“I am humbled and excited by the responsibility to lead Lincoln Residential on this new journey,” Osborne said in the announcement.

“In partnership with senior leadership, we will develop a thoughtful, people-led strategy to support and grow our property management operations and our clients, while expanding our development and investment program to position us for long-term success.”

Lincoln Residential also named 26-year company veteran Jeff Courtwright president, national development and Chris Stallsworth as executive vice-president, investments.

Stallsworth has 20 years of industry experience and was most recently managing director in CF’s Dallas office.

TD Securities acted as financial advisor and Fried Frank as legal advisor for Cadillac Fairview. Goodwin Proctor acted as legal advisor for Lincoln Residential.

Major transition at Lincoln Property Company

The transaction follows a move several weeks ago involving Lincoln's commercial division, which announced a “major investment” from Greenwich, Conn.-based Stone Point Capital, and its own transition in the senior management ranks.

The two private firms did not announce financial details, but Lincoln is recognized as one of the largest private full service real estate companies in the U.S. It owns and operates properties across all major asset classes.

Lincoln managed 275 million square feet of real estate on behalf of third-party institutional clients at the time of the Stone Point investment. 

In the last five years, the company says it has acquired and developed more than $22 billion in commercial projects, and currently has a “robust” pipeline of in-progress and future development opportunities. 

It named David Binswanger and Clay Duvall as co-CEOs.

As in the case of the residential division, they are replacing Pogue and president Bill Duvall, who also retained an ownership position in Lincoln Property Company.