Canada's DREAM Global REIT lists in Frankfurt, closes new deals

Canada's Dream Global REIT successfully completed its secondary listing on the Frankfurt Stock exchange earlier this month, in a move designed to facilitate access for European investors. To date the company, which is almost a pure-play investment on German commercial real estate, has been solely listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Moody's issued the stock a rating of Baa3 stable, reflecting the quality of the company's assets and its track record in Europe.

According to CEO Jane Gavan, the listing should help the REIT to source better priced unsecured debt capital in Europe, where it plans further growth. "The listing of Dream Global on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the credit rating from Moody's are important steps in bridging the valuation gap between our trading price and the valuation of our German peers. We believe that both initiatives are significant milestones for the REIT and should make it easier for European investors to gain exposure to Dream Global, improve the Trust’s cost of capital and enhance its financial flexibility," said Gavan.

The company also announced the acquisition of the 55,000 sqm Siemens office campus in Nuremberg for €50m. The 14.6-hectare office campus was bought as a sale-and-leaseback deal with Siemens on a ten-year initial lease with no break options. The going-in cap rate, including committed capex is 8.1%. The purchase was partially financed with a new 8-year mortgage for Can$51.2m at 1.2%. A further deal is being teed up for before the end of the year for another 33,000 sqm office in another big city for a going in cap rate of 6.3%.