Minto Apartment REIT going private with Crestpoint in $2.3-billion deal

Condo towers dot the Toronto skyline on Thursday Jan. 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO — Minto Group is taking its apartment-focused real estate investment trust private in a $2.3-billion deal with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments LP as Canada’s rental market faces pressure from rising supply and lower immigration.

The firm said Monday that it and Crestpoint will also form a joint venture partnership that will hold the apartment REIT’s assets and aim to develop more.

“We believe that this partnership will best enable Minto to execute on its strategic initiatives moving forward,” Minto chief executive Michael Waters said in a news release.

The company says the partnership will focus on the long-term ownership of recent generation, purpose-built rental properties in Canada.

Crestpoint is an affiliate of Toronto-based Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd., one of Canada’s largest private asset management firms with over $167 billion under management.

The deal will see Crespoint acquire all the outstanding units of the Minto REIT for $18 each in cash, other than units held by Minto and some senior officers. Minto says it will retain a significant equity interest in the new partnership.

Minto says both it and Crestpoint have agreed to provide additional capital to fund growth, with a focus on core Canadian markets including Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria and Halifax.

The Minto REIT held 28 properties containing about 7,600 suites as of the end of Sept. 30, with about 4,800 of those fully-owned.

It said in its most recent financial report that the market faced headwinds from elevated supply in several markets and slower population growth that resulted in a decrease in average occupancy.

A wave of new supply coming online, as Canada also cuts back on immigration numbers, has led to new asking rents trending a largely downward path for the past two years.

A December report from Urbanation and Rentals.ca said the average asking rent in Canada was down $100, or about 4.6 per cent, from two years earlier, to $2,074.

Minto however still reported its average rents rose in its last reported quarter as it had turnover of renters paying below-market rates.

And while the market is facing some pressures, Minto says the housing shortage in Canada means the long-term outlook for the market is still promising.

But near-term factors helped lead to a $30.2-million net loss for its quarter ending Sept. 30, while its unit price has been trading at almost half of its peak of a few years ago.

On news of the deal, the REIT’s unit price jumped $3.64, or more than 26 per cent, to $17.25 in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press