+ to Don Taylor and family; University of Calgary opened the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning; $40 million donation from Taylor Family Foundation made it possible
QUOTES
+ Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. – Napoleon Bonaparte
+ I have with me all that I do not know. I have lost none of it. – W.S. Merwin
+ Husky Energy began production at its Adam East Lloyd Thermal Project
+ Irving Oil Ltd. is considering an East-coast upgrader investment if Energy East pipeline is approved
this week in REITS
+ Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. and Apple REIT Ten Inc. agreed to a merger valued at US$1.3 billion; combined entity will hold 234 Hilton and Marriott flagged hotels (30,017 guestrooms)
+ Nobel REIT completed its acquisition of a 50% interest in 203902047 Stanley property with Fiducie Notariale Immobilière (Notarial Real Estate Trust); property is 110,938 sq. ft. downtown Montreal office building
+ NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT completed its acquisition of Mehrower Allee Complex in Germany; 82,000 sq. ft. / 2 building complex is 97.3% occupied
+ Alberta got a credit-rating downgrade following its budget; Finance Minister Ceci explained it as something to be expected; DBRS dropped its AAA rating to AA (pronounced double-eh)
+ April land sale in Saskatchewan netted $3.1 million, pretty pale compared to same period last year ($22.8 million)
+ Bank of Canada maintained its overnight rate target of ½ of 1%
+ Calgary property taxes for 2016 expected to rise 6.1%; while City Council had planned on a 3.5% increase, the increased education tax portion required by the province will push rates up …
+ current energy prices – live link to Bloomberg energy prices; some decline in U.S. supply, Kuwait says Iran isn’t essential to production freeze strategy – WTI crude above US$40/barrel last week has dropped 5% but later recovered to finish 1.4% off in New York on news from Doha meetings that a production freeze agreement was not reached by OPEC members; all of this posturing with Iran looks bizarre from here, especially when a Deputy Saudi Prince threatened to boost production 1 million barrels/day, which seems rather an empty threat after Iran skipped the meeting - good news, crude prices rebounding this morning: Brent US$43/bbl, WTI US$40/bbl …
+ FACILITYCalgary – NEW e-mail NEWSLETTER format is HERE! … new format, a more mobile-device friendly format we hope you enjoy – feedback encouraged, let me know your thoughts please …
+ FACILITYCalgary’s OP-ED page, guest article: ‘Put away the crystal ball’, by Alan Tennant, CEO @ Calgary Real Estate Board - click VIEWPOINT TAB
+ Husky Energy Inc.’s asset sale has reported interest from Teine Energy Ltd. and Raging River Exploration Inc. with other firms interested in small portions of the $2.1 billion portfolio … tic toc …
+ Northern Frontier Corp formed a board committed to review strategic alternatives
+ Notley Government is cutting small business tax rate; from three (3%) to two (2%); billed as part of the Climate Leadership Plan, which is supposed to offset increased carbon taxes born by small business while, apparently, big business will just to have to pay. Though the program promises $90 million in tax relief, for small businesses facing large losses, it will be of little comfort …
+ OPEC meeting in Doha, Qatar – ended without agreement after Saudi Arabia made it clear they would not agree to a freeze on output without Iran being part of an OPEC-wide freeze; next meeting is in June/16
+ Packers Plus Energy Services Inc. and Schlumberger formed a ‘global alliance’, whatever that means – but their press release sounds like they want to sell things to each other
+ Penn West Petroleum Ltd. closed $148 million sale of its Salve Point area assets
+ Penn West Petroleum Ltd. closed $50 million sale of non-core assets
+ Penn West Petroleum Ltd. reached agreement to sell $30 million sale of non-core assets
+ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke positively about Energy East and Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline projects; just talk. No promises of actual action – hard to glean whether he is motivated to get out his approval pen or just making political hay after the NDP floated their ‘ostrich head in the sand LEAP proposal’ against any new pipelines anywhere in the country. Ironically, these new pipelines will be the safest ever built anywhere. Perhaps the NDP are in favour of the ‘car-less driver’ concept …
+ RioCan REIT broke ground on its East Village development (on the former Calgary Police Association property); RioCan will retain 100% ownership of 180,000 sq. ft. retail component (Loblaws will food-anchor with an 82,000 sq. ft. City Market), while Embasy Bosa will take on a $300 million high rise condo development (500 condos).
+ SilverBirch Hotels and Resorts broke group on their Beltline project (former Alberta Boot property); scheduled for completion by 2019, 34-storey extended stay hotel (300 rooms( and conference centre) will be flagged as ‘Residence Inn by Marriott
+ Stantec Inc. agreed to acquire MHW Global for US$793 million
+ UBS AG, the Swiss bank, closed its Calgary offices
+ U.S. regulatory change; requirements for onshore electronic monitoring of offshore wells and accompanying regulations in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster have industry players reeling, protesting the costs would be prohibitive to new development, claiming increased costs to industry will be more than US$31.8 billion in the first decade
THIS WEEK IN FINANCINGS
- proposed & closed
+ Brookfield Asset Management Inc. closed it’s Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners II fund, a US$9.0 billion equity financing
+ Brookfield Office Properties Inc. is on the market to raise $150 million by a preferred share issue
+ Cara Operations Limited closed $230 million equity financing
+ GFL Environmental Inc. closed US$200 million senior unsecured debt financing
+ Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. closed $50 million equity financing
+ New West Energy Services Inc. closed $623,313 equity financing
+ Pembina Pipeline Corporation is on the market to raise $250 million by a preferred share issue
+ Sienna Senior Living Inc. is on the market to raise $138 million in equity
+ Stantec Inc. closed $604 million equity financing
+ Synergy Resources Corporation closed US$164.8 million equity financing
+ TransCanada Corporation is on the market to raise $500 million by a preferred share issue
+ US Oil Sands Inc. is on the market to raise $12.8 million by a rights offering
INTERESTING REAL ESTATE NEWS, other places
+ German investor – Union Investment Real Estate GmbH acquired 101 Seaport Blvd. in Boston (440,000 sq. ft. Class A office property) from Skanska ASA for US$452 million
+ Loblaw Cos. Ltd. announced plans to open 50 new stores and renovate 150 stores this year; no details yet on which ones …
+ Strathallen Capital Corp. acquired Pembroke Mall, Pembroke, ON; 220,558 sq. ft. food anchored shopping centre
+ ZooShare Biogas Co-operative Inc., together with The Toronto Zoo and Bullfrog Power broke ground on its ZooShare biogas plant; the 500KW facility will recycle 3,000 tonnes of manure from the Toronto Zoo and 14,000 tonnes of food waste from local grocery stores annually into renewable power for the Ontario grid
CLIMATE CHANGE / LEED / RENEWABLE ENERGY
+ Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. closed its $19.6 million acquisition of seven operating wind power projects (86.8MW) in France
+ Calgary Municipal Land Corporation is seeking re-design proposals for Olympic Plaza – say they are open to all ideas. I don’t follow that logic. I think they want good ideas and they’ll pick one, maybe, and one day something will happen. Given the shortage of capital for projects, the only thing that might push this one to the top of the list is that it faces City Hall …
+ City of Calgary is reviewing the ‘cash-in-lie’ program; Damien Wood, writing about it in the Calgary Herald, clearly doesn’t understand the issue. Developers would LOVE to build more parking but they are prevented by this policy which was part of the long-ago ‘Go Plan’ to drive transit ridership. What it has been, for decades, is a form of tax to milk developers of funds that were supposedly ‘parked’ for investment in City Parking Authority facilities. There is however no ‘pool of money’. Developers/landlords haven’t complained because, until recently, they’ve been creaming some of the highest parking rates on the planet. While relaxing the policy might be a good move going forward, wouldn’t it be nice of the City would actually build parking structures downtown with the funds contributed be developers. Not that they’ve scratched the surface in the burbs either. They should call it what it has always been, a TAX.
+ Notley Government Budget includes a 2016-2019/$34.8 billion Capital Plan; $8.5 billion of it slated for this fiscal year, $3.5 billion of that on schools
+ Okotoks airport surrendered it’s license; perhaps that land will have a new use soon … tic toc
