Slate Office REIT (SOT-UN-T) plans to go into 2025 with a new name and a new CEO, as the Toronto-based firm accelerated the termination of its management agreement and announced it would seek to rebrand into Ravelin Properties REIT.

The REIT moved to change the termination date of its agreement with Slate Management ULC from March 30, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2024. Slate will pay $2 million to the management firm, the approximate value of what it owed if the agreement was ended as originally scheduled.

Shant Poladian, who was appointed to the board of trustees in November, was tapped as CEO of the REIT. His role will be effective on or about Jan. 1, 2025.

"Since joining the board, Shant has been actively involved in guiding the REIT through the management internalization process,” George Armoyan, chair of Slate’s board of trustees, said in a release.

“While there is important work ahead of us, we are confident that Shant is well suited to lead the internal team going forward, and execute on the REIT's new strategic direction.”

Slate’s renaming to Ravelin is expected to be effective Dec. 31, alongside its Toronto Stock Exchange ticker changing from SOT.UN to RPR.UN. Three of its publicly traded debentures will also be listed.

Slate’s messy 2024

The shake-up represents the latest development in Slate’s troubled 2023 and 2024.

In late 2023, Slate announced a Portfolio Alignment Plan to lighten its debts, which involved selling assets which represent about 40 per cent of its gross leasable area and amending its declaration of trust to raise the ceiling on its allowable debt.

The company was saddled by over $1 billion in debt, and received notices of default for its revolving credit facility in June. Slate was selling its assets and saving cash to pay down its debt which ballooned from a mix of declining property values, higher office vacancy rates and elevated interest rates.

Then in October, brothers Blair and Brady Welch, two of the founding members of the REIT and the leadership of Slate Management ULC, resigned from the board after it was announced Slate was looking to end its external management agreement.

The Welches and Armoyan’s company G2S2 Capital Inc., the largest shareholder of Slate, were locked into a dispute over years of alleged underperformance by Slate’s management team.

In its Q3 financials, Slate said it completed approximately $103 million in dispositions as of Nov. 7, with examples of completed sales such as 570 Queen St. in Fredericton for $5.2 million, 114 Garry St. in Winnipeg for $14.3 million, and Woodbine & Steeles Corporate Centre in Toronto for $39 million.

The company operated at a net loss of $182 million as of Sept. 30, with approximately $1.4 billion in assets and $1.1 billion in total debt.

Its global portfolio of properties in Canada, Ireland and the U.S. numbered at 44 as of Sept. 30.

Slate’s new leadership

Poladian, a professional accountant with over two decades of experience in real estate and finance, will hold his new position at Slate alongside his roles as managing director of Springhurst Capital Corp. and member of the board of trustees at Killam Apartment REIT. He is also a corporate director at Jo-Jo Capital Canada Ltd. and board trustee of Canna 8 Investment Trust.