Hudson’s Bay sells seven malls for C$1.3b

Retailer Hudson’s Bay Co. and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, a Canadian REIT, have closed the first tranche of their joint venture focused on real estate growth opportunities in Canada. 

The joint venture entity acquired properties at a purchase price of approximately C$1.6 billion ($1.3 billion).

HBC contributed seven owned or ground-leased properties (including Hudson’s Bay flagship properties in  Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver) with approximately 2.6 million square feet. The transaction values the first tranche of the HBC real estate contribution at approximately C$1.3 billion ($1.02 billion).

HBC received C$352 million ($276 million) in cash proceeds from third-party debt arranged in conjunction with the closing and assumed by the RioCan-HBC joint venture.

RioCan contributed a 50 percent interest in two mall properties in Ontario (Oakville Place and Georgian Mall) at a gross sales price of C$299 millio