NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES
TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (“SmartCentres” or the “Trust”) (TSX:SRU.UN) announced today that it is issuing notices of redemption to holders of its 3.73% Series M senior unsecured debentures due July 22, 2022 (the “Series M Debentures”) and 2.876% Series Q senior unsecured debentures due March 21, 2022 (the “Series Q Debentures”, and together with the Series M Debentures, the “Debentures”), representing a redemption in full of all of the currently outstanding Series M Debentures and Series Q Debentures. The Debentures will be redeemed on January 11, 2021 (the “Redemption Date”), in accordance with their respective terms. The Series M Debentures will be redeemed at a total redemption price of $1,046.86 plus accrued and unpaid interest of $17.679178 up to but excluding the Redemption Date, both per $1,000 principal amount. The Series Q Debentures will be redeemed at a total redemption price of $1,027.03 plus accrued and unpaid interest of $8.824986 up to but excluding the Redemption Date, both per $1,000 principal amount. As at the closing of trading on December 10, 2020, the aggregate principal amount of the Series M Debentures outstanding was $150,000,000 and the aggregate principal amount of the Series Q Debentures outstanding was $150,000,000.
SmartCentres intends to use the proceeds from its previously announced offering of $350 million aggregate principal amount of Series X senior unsecured debentures (the “Series X Debentures”) and $300 million aggregate principal amount of Series Y senior unsecured debentures (the “Series Y Debentures), together with cash on hand, to fund the redemption price of the Series M Debentures and the Series Q Debentures. The Series X Debentures will carry a coupon of 1.74% and will mature on December 16, 2025 and the Series Y Debentures will carry a coupon of 2.307% and will mature on December 18, 2028.
About SmartCentres
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is one of Canada’s largest fully integrated REITs, with a best-in-class portfolio featuring 166 strategically located properties in communities across the country. SmartCentres has approximately $10.4 billion in assets and owns 33.8 million square feet of income producing value-oriented retail space with 97.4% occupancy, on 3,500 acres of owned land across Canada.
SmartCentres continues to focus on enhancing the lives of Canadians by planning and developing complete, connected, mixed-use communities on its existing retail properties. A publicly announced $11.9 billion intensification program ($5.4 billion at SmartCentres' share) represents the Trust’s current major development focus on which construction is expected to commence within the next five years. This intensification program consists of rental apartments, condos, seniors’ residences and hotels, to be developed under the SmartLiving banner, and retail, office, and storage facilities, to be developed under the SmartCentres banner.
SmartCentres’ intensification program is expected to produce an additional 59.3 million square feet (27.9 million square feet at SmartCentres’ share) of space, 27.1 million square feet (12.3 million square feet at SmartCentres’ share) of which has or will commence construction within the next five years. From shopping centres to city centres, SmartCentres is uniquely positioned to reshape the Canadian urban and urban-suburban landscape.
Included in this intensification program is the Trust’s share of SmartVMC which, when completed, is expected to include approximately 11.0 million square feet of mixed-use space in Vaughan, Ontario. Construction of the first five sold-out phases of Transit City Condominiums that represent 2,789 residential units continues to progress. Final closings of the first two phases of Transit City Condominiums began ahead of budget and ahead of schedule in August 2020 and as at September 30, 2020, 766 units (representing approximately 70% of all 1,110 units in the first and second phases) had closed with the balance of units expected to close before year end. In addition, the presold 631 units in the third phase along with 22 townhomes, all of which are sold out and currently under construction, are expected to close in 2021. The fourth and fifth sold-out phases representing 1,026 units are currently under construction and are expected to close in 2023.
Certain statements in this press release are “forward-looking statements” that reflect management’s expectations regarding SmartCentres future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. More specifically, certain statements including, but not limited to, statements related to the anticipated use of proceeds of the offering, SmartCentres’ expected or planned development plans and joint venture projects, including the described type, scope, costs and other financial metrics, and the expected timing of construction and condominium closings; and statements that contain words such as “could”, “should”, “can”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe”, “will”, “may” and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts, constitute “forward-looking statements”. These forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of assisting Unitholders and financial analysts to understand SmartCentres development potential and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Such forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management.
However, such forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including risks associated with potential acquisitions not being completed or not being completed on the contemplated terms, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, real property ownership and development, debt and equity financing for development, interest and financing costs, construction and development risks, ability to obtain commercial and municipal consents for development. These risks and others are more fully discussed under the heading “Risks and Uncertainties” and elsewhere in the SmartCentres most recent MD&A, as well as under the heading “Risk Factors” in SmartCentres' most recent annual information form. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, including those discussed under the heading “Outlook” and elsewhere in SmartCentres’ MD&A, SmartCentres cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this press release and SmartCentres assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances unless otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.
Material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making an estimate set out in the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to: a stable retail environment; relatively low and stable interest costs; a continuing trend toward land use intensification, including residential development in urban markets and continued growth along transportation nodes; access to equity and debt capital markets to fund, at acceptable costs, future capital requirements and to enable our refinancing of debts as they mature; that requisite consents for development will be obtained in the ordinary course, construction and permitting costs consistent with the past year and recent inflation trends.
