PROREIT president and CEO James Beckerleg. (Courtesy PROREIT)

The final step in PRO Real Estate Investment Trust’s nearly year-long transformation will take place Tuesday, May 7 when the trust begins trading its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. To celebrate its graduation from the TSX Venture exchange, PROREIT management will open the market Tuesday morning.

PROREIT will continue to trade with the PRV-UN symbol, but its stock will undergo a three-to-one consolidation to facilitate the move.

“As PROREIT continues to build recognition in the capital markets and gains access to a broader and more diverse investor audience, we are proud to celebrate our successful migration to the TSX,” said James Beckerleg, president and chief executive officer, in a release Friday. “Graduating to a major exchange is a testament to our solid growth and proven ability to execute.”

As a result of the share consolidation, the current monthly distributions of $0.0175 per unit will be adjusted to $0.0525 per unit on a post-consolidation basis. The adjustment represents an annualized distribution of $0.63 per unit.

“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our employees, investors and partners who have supported PROREIT along the way,” Beckerleg said. “Together, we have reached significant milestones since our founding six years ago.

“Now, more than ever, we are focused and dedicated to achieving our objective of building a mid-cap, diversified REIT in Canada.”

Recent PROREIT acquisitions

The Québec-based trust announced its intention to move up to the TSX in the summer of 2018, at the same time as it made one of its largest acquisitions, a portfolio of a half-dozen properties in Ottawa and Ste-Hyacinthe, Que., comprising almost a half million square feet of office and commercial space.

In two major acquisitions last summer, the REIT purchased 18 properties for more than $100 million, adding 25 per cent to its total asset value.

“As long as we can find attractive acquisitions and we can raise capital to support them, I would say that we’ll continue to see the balance sheet expand,” Beckerleg told RENX during an interview at the time.

PROREIT also said its normal course issuer bid, announced in August 2018, has been accepted by the TSX. It will continue through the TSX, limited to a maximum of 1,129,165 shares under the new valuations.

Daily purchases will be limited to a maximum of 27,929 units, the equivalent of 25 per cent of the average daily trading volume over the six months ended July 31, 2018.

The REIT has purchased 46,133 units (on a post-consolidation basis) under the NCIB since Aug. 25, 2018.

The market opening ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday featuring PROREIT’s management and guests. It can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gppXJGH8bDQ and on BNN TV. An archive of the ceremony will be available at http://www.tsx.com/news/market-opens.

PROREIT is an unincorporated open-ended real estate investment trust owning a diversified portfolio of 84 commercial properties across Canada representing over 3.7 million square feet of gross leasable area.

Established in March 2013, PROREIT is mainly focused on strong secondary markets in Québec, Atlantic Canada and Ontario, with selective exposure in Western Canada.

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