RioCan to sell $2bn in properties by 2019 to fund major market investment

Canada’s largest real estate trust, RioCan, has announced that it is planning to complete the sale of as many as 100 properties including malls and power centres in smaller cities across Canada by 2019.

The firm hopes to generate as much as C$2bn from this venture, which they plan to use to both repurchase RioCan trust units from the open market, in addition to investing $300mn to $400mn annually into property developments in six major Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

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"We have always known that the best assets, from a growth perspective, are located where there's population growth," said RioCan Chief Executive Edward Sonshine.

"In Canada, that population growth is essentially in the six major markets of this country."

Riocan’s property overhaul comes at a time when retail properties are becoming increasingly under pressure due to the growth of ecommerce, with RioCan itself owning vacant space that was previously filled by Target in the retail company’s failed venture.

RioCan is yet to release the list of properties that they will be selling until deals are reached individually for them, however, Sonshine has revealed that many of them are likely to come from the Ontario and Quebec provinces.