H&R CEO Says Time Right for Primaris Bid as Target Invasion Looms
From the Globe and Mail:
H&R Retail Real Estate Investment Trust believes now is the time to take over Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust, with Target Corp. about to kick off an invasion of Canada by foreign retailers, H&R’s CEO says.
By way of its bid, H&R is seeking to get bigger and stronger at a time when the mall ownership game is changing, Tom Hofstedter, the CEO of H&R, told analysts on a conference call Thursday morning.
In a note prior to the conference call, Royal Bank of Canada analyst Neil Downey wrote that executives at H&R would be under pressure Thursday to show investors how the firm would benefit from the takeover.
It appears that H&R is banking on the size of the merged businesses and organic income growth from Primaris’s portfolio, but “the story is complex, and at least initially, it will require some “selling” to the market,” Mr. Downey wrote.