/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES/
TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2020 /CNW/ - SmartCentres Real
Estate Investment Trust ("SmartCentres" or the "Trust")
(TSX:SRU.UN) announced today that it is proposing to issue a
minimum of $350 million aggregate
principal amount of Series X senior unsecured debentures and a
minimum of $250 million aggregate
principal amount of Series Y senior unsecured debentures on an
agency basis, subject to market conditions. The Series X debentures
will mature on December 16, 2025 and
the Series Y debentures will mature on December 18, 2028. The debentures are being
offered by a syndicate of agents with Scotia Capital as the lead
left bookrunner, RBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets, CIBC
Capital Markets, National Bank Financial, and TD Securities as
joint bookrunners and co-leads, and Desjardins Securities,
Canaccord Genuity, Casgrain, HSBC
Securities (Canada), Industrial
Alliance Securities and Stifel Nicolaus Canada as co-managers. The
two offerings are expected to close on or about December 16, 2020. DBRS Limited has provided
SmartCentres with a provisional credit rating of BBB (high) with a
stable trend relating to the debentures.
SmartCentres intends to use the net proceeds of the offering,
together with cash on hand, to refinance existing debt, including
the repayment of its $350 million
Series T senior unsecured debentures due 2021, the redemption of
its $150 million Series M senior
unsecured debentures due 2022, and the redemption of its
$150 million Series Q senior
unsecured debentures due 2022.
These offerings are being made by way of a private placement to
certain accredited investors in each of the provinces of
Canada.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or the
solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in any
jurisdiction. The debentures being offered have not been and will
not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and state
securities laws. Accordingly, the debentures may not be offered or
sold to U.S. persons except pursuant to applicable exemptions from
registration requirements.
About SmartCentres
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is one of Canada's largest fully integrated REITs, with
a best-in-class portfolio featuring 166 strategically located
properties in communities across the country. SmartCentres has
approximately $10.4 billion in assets
and owns 33.8 million square feet of income producing
value-oriented retail space with 97.4% occupancy, on 3,500 acres of
owned land across Canada.
SmartCentres continues to focus on enhancing the lives of
Canadians by planning and developing complete, connected, mixed-use
communities on its existing retail properties. A publicly announced
$11.9 billion intensification program
($5.4 billion at SmartCentres' share)
represents the Trust's current major development focus on which
construction is expected to commence within the next five years.
This intensification program consists of rental apartments, condos,
seniors' residences and hotels, to be developed under the
SmartLiving banner, and retail, office, and storage facilities, to
be developed under the SmartCentres banner.
SmartCentres' intensification program is expected to produce an
additional 59.3 million square feet (27.9 million square feet at
SmartCentres' share) of space, 27.1 million square feet (12.3
million square feet at SmartCentres' share) of which has or will
commence construction within the next five years. From shopping
centres to city centres, SmartCentres is uniquely positioned to
reshape the Canadian urban and urban-suburban landscape.
Included in this intensification program is the Trust's share of
SmartVMC which, when completed, is expected to include
approximately 11.0 million square feet of mixed-use space in
Vaughan, Ontario. Construction of
the first five sold-out phases of Transit City Condominiums that
represent 2,789 residential units continues to progress. Final
closings of the first two phases of Transit City Condominiums began
ahead of budget and ahead of schedule in August 2020 and as at September 30, 2020, 766 units (representing
approximately 70% of all 1,110 units in the first and second
phases) had closed with the balance of units expected to close
before year end. In addition, the presold 631 units in the third
phase along with 22 townhomes, all of which are sold out and
currently under construction, are expected to close in 2021. The
fourth and fifth sold-out phases representing 1,026 units are
currently under construction and are expected to close in 2023.
Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking
statements" that reflect management's expectations regarding
SmartCentres future growth, results of operations, performance and
business prospects and opportunities. More specifically, certain
statements including, but not limited to, statements related to the
anticipated use of proceeds of the offering, the date the offering
is expected to close and the anticipated size of the offering,
SmartCentres' expected or planned development plans and joint
venture projects, including the described type, scope, costs and
other financial metrics, and the expected timing of construction
and condominium closings; and statements that contain words
such as "could", "should", "can", "anticipate", "expect",
"believe", "will", "may" and similar expressions and statements
relating to matters that are not historical facts, constitute
"forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements are
presented for the purpose of assisting Unitholders and financial
analysts to understand SmartCentres development potential and may
not be appropriate for other purposes. Such forward-looking
statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on
information currently available to management.
However, such forward-looking statements involve significant
risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from the results discussed in the
forward-looking statements, including risks associated with
potential acquisitions not being completed or not being completed
on the contemplated terms, public health crises such as the
COVID-19 pandemic, real property ownership and development, debt
and equity financing for development, interest and financing costs,
construction and development risks, ability to obtain commercial
and municipal consents for development. These risks and others are
more fully discussed under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties"
and elsewhere in the SmartCentres most recent MD&A, as well as
under the heading "Risk Factors" in SmartCentres 'most recent
annual information form. Although the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release are based on what management
believes to be reasonable assumptions, including those discussed
under the heading "Outlook" and elsewhere in SmartCentres'
MD&A, SmartCentres cannot assure investors that actual results
will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified
in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These
forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this press
release and SmartCentres assumes no obligation to update or revise
them to reflect new events or circumstances unless otherwise
required by applicable securities legislation.
Material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing
a conclusion or making an estimate set out in the forward-looking
information may include, but are not limited to: a stable retail
environment; relatively low and stable interest costs; a continuing
trend toward land use intensification, including residential
development in urban markets and , continued growth along
transportation nodes; access to equity and debt capital markets to
fund, at acceptable costs, future capital requirements and to
enable our refinancing of debts as they mature; that requisite
consents for development will be obtained in the ordinary course,
construction and permitting costs consistent with the past year and
recent inflation trends.
SOURCE SmartCentres REIT
