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

Leon’s furniture to become a reit

[Torontojay]

I did a recent write up on Leon's furniture and why I think it has tremendous value. I thought I'd post it here to anyone who might not be aware of their future ambitions. This post is not intended to solicit anyone to sell one investment in favour of another but rather to inform the community of potential opportunities. I believe Leon's furniture is going to do a spin off at some point in the future to unlock the real estate value they possess. 

 

FP: You’ve mentioned that you already own a bunch of land throughout the country. Can you give an estimate of the value of your land holdings?

 

MW: I probably can in May. We announced a while back that we’re going to create a REIT, given the properties that we hold, which would be a separate company with a separate CEO and a separate board of trustees. That’s already been announced (in May last year). As part of that, 35 to 50 per cent of our properties will be sent into the REIT. So we have to do valuations on all of our lands, which we’re currently starting.

 

FP: Do you think the company’s stock price adequately reflects that value?

 

MW: No, I think our stock price is low. We still remain focused on retail because that’s the engine behind this company and a big focus of ours between our retail and our services. But unlocking the value of our real estate is massive. Our land and buildings are on our balance sheet for $236 million and all of its unencumbered. That definitely is not the valuation of 429 acres, with 40 acres being in North York (part of Toronto), then we have another 32 acres of land where our Burlington (east of Toronto) store is and we have parcels within other stores and locations.

https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/leons-ceo-michael-walsh-on-retail-real-estate-and-running-a-canadian-icon/wcm/42efec3b-c6e9-4752-a99f-26e888d28cef/amp/