OMERS and Oxford Properties Complete RBC Data Centres Trust Financing

As a follow-up to their recent acquisition of the real estate portfolio of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and Oxford Properties Group Inc. (Oxford) completed their financing plan for Data Centres Trust in December 1999. OMERS and Oxford acquired a leasehold interest in 10 RBC data centre buildings across Canada in October 1999. The buildings represent approximately 1.1 million square feet of rentable area. OMERS and Oxford will retain a two-thirds and one-third ownership of the residual interests in these properties, respectively.

As the pension plan for local government employees in Ontario, OMERS represents 270,000 members and pensioners spanning more than 1,000 municipalities, boards and commissions across the province. OMERS manages more than $33 billion in assets and $4 billion in real estate investments. As one of Canada’s largest property owners and managers, Oxford manages about 68 million square feet of high-end commercial real estate properties across Canada and the U.S. and owns assets of more than $3 billion.

George M. Valentini, and Phillip J. B. Heath of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, with the assistance of Heather McKean, Michael S. Hart and Richard M. Borins, represented OMERS and Oxford. CIBC World Markets acted as financial advisor and sole agent for the transaction; Michael R. Carman, Michael D. Rumball, and Dana S. Porter of Stikeman Elliott acted on behalf of the advisor and ultimate investors with the assistance of Mark E. McElheran, Jason Kroft, C. Mario Paura, Brenda L. Hebert and David W. Glicksman.

Lawyer(s)

Jason Kroft Mark E. McElheran Richard M. Borins Brenda Hebert Philip J.B. Heath Dana Porter Heather McKean David W. Glicksman George M. Valentini C. Mario Paura Michael S. Hart