Artis Real Estate Investment Pref Shs Series E T.AX.PR.E

RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:11.00 Target ???

[babybunny]

To best serve the typical Artis investor, Artis should pass these capital gains through to unitholders.  Most of us hold REIT units in registered accounts, so the capital gain distribution will not be taxable.  Even those who hold units in taxable accounts will be no worse off, as compared to Artis retaining the capital gain and paying tax on it within the REIT.  

This will be the first real acid test of the governance integrity of the new Artis board.  If they distribute the gain as a special dividend, it will reflect well on them.  If they retain the income and suffer an unnecessary tax bite, I will take it as a sign that the empire-building bug has bitten.  Thus far they have been good stewards of unitholder capital, with deeply satisfying mammoth purchases under the NCIB ... so I expect they will do the right thing.

The ideal move would be to distribute the gain as a special dividend, but reinstate the DRIP so investors can easily re-invest the distribution.  Offer the DRIP at a 3% discount and investors will jump at the chance to enroll in the DRIP.  This would keep the loss of empire to a minimum, so everyone would be happy.