TORONTO, March 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (“CAPREIT”) (TSX: CAR.UN) today announced that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) has accepted its notice of intention to proceed with a normal course issuer bid.

CAPREIT’s Board of Trustees believes that a normal course issuer bid represents an appropriate and desirable use of its available liquidity to increase unitholder value and is in the best interest of CAPREIT and its unitholders. As at December 31, 2022, CAPREIT had approximately $381 million of liquidity, representing cash and cash equivalents on hand and available liquidity on CAPREIT’s Acquisition and Operating Facility.  

Pursuant to the notice, CAPREIT may purchase up to 16,901,348 of its trust units (the “Units”), representing approximately 10% of the public float of 169,013,488 Units, during the twelve-month period commencing on March 24, 2023 and ending on March 23, 2024. As at March 15, 2023 there were 169,322,513 Units issued and outstanding. Under the normal course issuer bid, other than purchases made under block purchase exemptions, CAPREIT may purchase up to 100,017 Units on the TSX during any trading day, which represents approximately 25% of 400,069 Units, which represents the average daily trading volume on the TSX for the most recently completed six calendar months prior to the TSX’s acceptance of the notice of the normal course issuer bid. Any Units purchased under the normal course issuer bid will be cancelled.

Although CAPREIT intends to purchase Units under its normal course issuer bid, there can be no assurance that any such purchases will be completed. Any purchases made under the normal course issuer bid will be made by CAPREIT subject to favourable market conditions at the prevailing market price at the time of purchase and through the facilities of the TSX and/or alternative Canadian trading systems. CAPREIT intends to enter into an automatic purchase plan to be effective March 24, 2023 during the term of the normal course issuer bid. The automatic purchase plan will allow for purchases by CAPREIT of Units during certain pre-determined blackout periods.

CAPREIT previously maintained a normal course issuer bid for the twelve-month period commencing on March 24, 2022 and ending on March 23, 2023 (the “2022 NCIB”), under which CAPREIT sought and received approval from the TSX to purchase up to 17,067,144 Units. As of March 20, 2023, CAPREIT has purchased 6,263,023 Units under the 2022 NCIB at a weighted average purchase price of $45.54 per Unit through the facilities of the TSX and alternative Canadian trading systems.

About CAPREIT

CAPREIT is Canada’s largest publicly traded provider of quality rental housing. As at December 31, 2022, CAPREIT owns or has interests in approximately 67,000 residential apartment suites, townhomes and manufactured home community sites well-located across Canada and the Netherlands, with approximately $17 billion of investment properties in Canada and Europe. For more information about CAPREIT, its business and its investment highlights, please visit our website at www.capreit.ca and our public disclosure which can be found under our profile at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that do not relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements. These statements represent CAPREIT's intentions, plans, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are more fully described in regulatory filings that can be obtained on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this statement.

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