Manulife Purchases ORC's Interest in North American Centre

On April 14, 2003, OMERS Realty Corporation (ORC) sold its undivided 50 per cent interest in North American Centre in Toronto to MREFCP Trust, whose sole beneficiary is The Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Company (Manulife), for $110.6 million. The transaction included the transfer of ORC’s interest in the lands and premises and various rights, interest and assets associated with that interest in the property. Following the sale, the Manulife group of companies now owns North American Centre, an office complex comprising two towers, totalling approximately 1.03 million leaseable square feet of office space. Manulife will assume management responsibilities for North American Centre on June 1.

Manulife was represented by Lang Michener, with a team that included Bruce McKenna, Bill Rowlands and John Payne (corporate/real estate), James Musgrove (competition and marketing), Eric Friedman (corporate/commercial) and Peter Giddens (information technology).

ORC was represented by McCarthy Tétrault LLP, with a team that included Abraham Costin and Tzen-Yi Goh (real estate) and Oliver Borgers (competition).