BTB Real Estate Investment Trust T.BTB.DB.G

Alternate Symbol(s): T.BTB.DB.H | T.BTB.UN | BTBIF

Real Estate REIT - Diversified

BTB Real Estate Investment Trust (the Trust) is a Canada-based real estate investment trust (REIT). The Trust’s primary objective is to maximize total return to unitholders, to generate stable monthly cash distributions that are reliable and fiscally beneficial to unitholders, to grow the Trust’s assets through internal growth and accretive acquisitions, and optimize the value of its assets through dynamic management of its properties to maximize their long-term value. The Trust invests in industrial, off-downtown core office and necessity-based commercial properties across Canada for the benefit of its investors. The Trust owns and manages approximately 75 properties, representing a total leasable area of approximately 6.1 million square feet. The Trust operates through three segments, which include Industrial, Off downtown core office and Necessity-based retail. The Trust’s operations are located in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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BTB Real Estate Investment Trust > Stephanie Leonard, BTB REIT CEO's daughter...

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Post by b919191on Apr 13, 2024 10:08am

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Post# 35987377

Stephanie Leonard, BTB REIT CEO's daughter...

...has been employed by the REIT in an undisclosed senior role for years: Reportable Conflict of Interest?

As promised earlier, some more things proper Corporate Governance policies should avoid.

Excerpt from my letter to Lucie Ducharme, President of the Governance and Human Resources committee of the board of trustees of BTB REIT...

I was shocked to discover that Stphanie Lonard was employed by BTB through independent research and not via regulatory disclosures, considering that:

she is the daughter of Michel Lonard, BTB CEO (https://tinyurl.com/5seb3858), and;
she does not appear to be employed in an uncompensated role, and;
this situation represents a conflict of interest. For the definition of this concept, I refer you to paragraph 4 of Canada’s Conflict of Interest Act (available here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-36.65/FullText.html)

This oversight highlights the serious weaknesses in BTB’s related-party transactions disclosures, which could help explain why fundamental institutional investors ignore BTB’s units. From direct personal experience, nepotism and worse still, the lack of disclosure surrounding it, are seen as ‘red flags’ by investors.

At a minimum, proper disclosure looks like this passage (https://tinyurl.com/y4zscc7y) taken from the Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) 2023 proxy statement. Please note that year-on-year comparison tables would be welcome if BTB wants to stay ahead of the curve.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am hereby requesting that weaknesses on related-party transactions disclosures urgently be addressed by the board of trustees of BTB. The questions below should be answered through a relevant section in the next management information circular and ideally earlier via a dedicated press release:

The names, roles and full compensation details (including all expense reimbursements) of the relatives, friends and partners of BTB trustees and senior executives employed by BTB, with annual total receipts from BTB exceeding CAD$5,000, and;
The relevant historical information to allow unitholders to monitor the progression of the compensation paid out to individuals described above, at least since you took over as president of the GHR in 2016.