Bluesky Hotels and Resorts acquires InnVest REIT for $2.1B

On August 19, 2016, Bluesky Hotels and Resorts (“Bluesky”) completed its acquisition of InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust (“InnVest”) by way of a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) for around $2.1 billion

On August 19, 2016, Bluesky Hotels and Resorts (“Bluesky”) completed its acquisition of InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust (“InnVest”) by way of a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) for around $2.1 billion.

Pursuant to the transaction, Bluesky has acquired all of the issued and outstanding units of InnVest for a price of $7.25 in cash per unit for an aggregate amount of approximately $974,504,697.

In addition, in connection with the closing of the Arrangement, InnVest has completed the redemption for cash of (i) all 6.00 per cent Series E convertible debentures and 5.75 per cent Series F convertible debentures at a price of $1,010 per $1,000 of debentures (plus accrued and unpaid interest), and (ii) all 6.25 per cent Series G convertible debentures at a price of $1,075 per $1,000 of debentures (plus accrued and unpaid interest).

The transaction received unanimous approval from the Board of Trustees of InnVest and full support from InnVest’s management team and was subject to several customary conditions, including the approval of InnVest unitholders and Canadian regulatory approvals, under the Investment Canada Act and the Competition Act.

Bluesky is a privately held Canadian corporation, backed by Hong Kong capital, with an interest in developing a diversified asset portfolio of hotels, hospitality services, real estate and other long-term holdings. Prioritizing opportunities to continually enhance its portfolio quality, Bluesky is focusing on the ownership and development of the hotels in the InnVest portfolio.

InnVest is an unincorporated open-ended real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of 107 hotels across Canada, including the Vancouver Hyatt, Fairmont Palliser, Sheraton Eau Claire, Fairmont Macdonald, and Fairmont Royal York.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted as legal counsel to Bluesky with a team including Graham Gow, Oliver Borgers, Robert Hansen, Patrick McCay, Jamie Orzech, Bobby Wang, Charlene Schafer, Heidi Gordon, Nicole Rumble, Na Fan and Suraj Rammohan.

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP acted as legal counsel to InnVest with a team led by Walied Soliman, Paul Fitzgerald and Andrea Brewer and included Ruth Wahl, Steve Leitl, Janet Bobechko, Jennifer Kennedy, Anne Gallop, Kevin Ackhurst, Michael Horvat, Barry Segal, Michael Sabusco, Michael Lieberman, Jacob Cawker, Christopher Hunter, Jeffrey Spiegel, Michael Wong and Jenny Yoo.