RioCan REIT Acquires Four Shopping Centres from Walmart and First Professional

On December 17, 2009, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust completed the acquisition of Walmart Canada Realty Inc.'s and First Professional Realty Inc.'s interests in three shopping centres located in Alberta and one shopping centre located in British Columbia totalling approximately 1.2 million square feet.

Three of the four properties are anchored by Walmart, which represents 54 per cent of the occupied space by gross leasable area, and the remaining property will be anchored by Lowe's.
The purchase price for the four properties was approximately $280 million.

RioCan acquired two of the properties on a joint venture basis. Grandview Corners in Surrey, British Columbia was acquired with CPP Investment Board Real Estate Holdings Inc. on a 50-50 basis, and Edmonton West Retail Centre in Edmonton, Alberta was acquired with Sun Life Insurance (Canada) Limited, with RioCan owning a 40 per cent interest.

RioCan, CPP and Sun Life were represented by Fogler, Rubinoff LLP, with a team that included Raymond Gelgoot, Leneo Sdao and William Berger; by Bryan & Company LLP in Alberta, with a team that included Bog Romanko, QC, and Philip du Heaume; and by Kornfeld Mackoff Silber LLP in British Columbia, with a team that included Donald Haslam. CPP was also advised by Goodmans LLP, with a team that included Juli Morrow and Ira Berg. Sun Life was also represented by in-house counsel Glen Copeland.

Walmart and First Professional were represented by Walmart in-house counsel Peter Prattas and First Professional in-house counsel Joseph Amato and Jennie Yap; by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, with a team that included Gregory Howard, Steven Martin, Matthew Singerman and Daniel Remick; by Kennedy Agrios LLP in Alberta, with a team that included Richard Kennedy and Brian Futoransky; and by McCarthy Tétrault LLP in British Columbia, with a team that included Elizabeth Yip.

Lawyer(s)

Donald J. Haslam Elizabeth H. Yip Raymond M. Gelgoot Jennie F.L. Yap Daniel S. Remick Philip A. du Heaume Matthew Singerman Steven R. Martin Bogumil F. Romanko Richard H. Kennedy Juli Morrow Peter Prattas Leneo E. Sdao Joseph Amato Brian Futoransky Ira Berg Glen R. Copeland

Firm(s)

Fogler, Rubinoff LLP Bryan & Company LLP Kornfeld LLP Goodmans LLP Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP Kennedy Agrios Oshry Law McCarthy Tétrault LLP