Minto Apartment REIT announces going private transaction with Crestpoint and Minto
Torys is acting as counsel to Crestpoint and Minto with a team led by John Emanoilidis and that includes Brett Saulnier, Adam Ibrahim and Arron Chahal (corporate/M&A), Rose Bailey and Simon Knowling (real estate), Omar Wakil and Eric Patenaude (regulatory), Jennifer Lennon and Tom Stevenson (employment), Molly Reynolds (privacy), Corrado Cardarelli, Andrew Wong, Richard Johnson, David Mattingly and Chris Saki (tax).
On January 5, 2026, Minto Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (“Minto Apartment REIT” or the "REIT") announced that it entered into an arrangement agreement with an affiliate of Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Limited Partnership ("Crestpoint") and an affiliate of the Minto Group ("Minto").
Pursuant to the arrangement agreement, the transaction will be structured as a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) and the Trustee Act (Ontario) through which Crestpoint will acquire all of the issued and outstanding trust units of the REIT, other than those held directly or indirectly by Minto and certain senior officers (the "Retained Interest Holders"), for consideration of C$18.00 per unit. The all‑cash transaction values the REIT at approximately C$2.3 billion, including debt and the trust units controlled by the Retained Interest Holders and the class B limited partnership units ("Class B Units") of Minto Apartment Limited Partnership held by Minto and certain affiliates.
Implementation of the transaction is subject to, among other things,
- the approval of at least two‑thirds of votes cast by unitholders; and
- the approval of a simple majority of votes cast by unitholders, excluding the Retained Interest Holders and any other unitholder required to be excluded under Multilateral Instrument 61‑101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.
The REIT expects to hold a special meeting of trust unitholders and holders of the special voting units to consider and vote on the transaction in March 2026. If approved, the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to the waiver or satisfaction of conditions customary for transactions of this nature, including, among others: court approval, clearance under the Competition Act and the consent of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and certain lenders to the REIT.
In connection with the transaction, Minto, which directly and indirectly holds approximately 42.7% of the voting interest in the REIT, entered into an irrevocable voting agreement with Crestpoint agreeing to vote its units in favour of the transaction and against any competing acquisition proposals, under specific terms. In addition, each trustee and executive officer of the REIT also entered into voting agreements agreeing to vote their units in favour of the transaction.
Upon successful completion of the transaction, the trust units of the REIT are expected to be delisted from the TSX and the REIT will cease to be a reporting issuer in all of the provinces and territories of Canada.
Further information can be found on Canada Newswire’s website.
Minto Apartment REIT is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust established pursuant to a declaration of trust under the laws of the Province of Ontario to own income-producing multi-residential properties located in urban markets in Canada. The REIT owns a portfolio of high-quality income-producing multi-residential rental properties located in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver.
One of the fastest growing real estate asset managers across Canada, Crestpoint focuses on commercial real estate and debt investments, collectively managing over C$11 billion on behalf of institutional and high-net-worth clients and. It is an affiliate of Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd., a multi-boutique asset management firm whose affiliates collectively manage over C$167 billion in assets for individuals, advisors and institutional investors.
The Minto Group is a premier real estate firm in Canada with a fully integrated real estate investment, development and management platform. Founded in 1955, it has built more than 100,000 new homes and continues to own and manage residential and commercial rental properties.