European Residential REIT Announces Leadership Transition

TORONTO, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (“ERES”) (TSX: ERE.UN) and Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (“CAPREIT”) (TSX:CAR.UN) announced today that Phillip Burns has stepped down from his role as Chief Executive Officer of ERES. Pursuant to the asset management agreement between CAPREIT and ERES, CAPREIT provides ERES with, among other things, a Chief Executive Officer, which role Mr. Burns has held since March 2019. Mr. Burns has also stepped down as a member of the Board of Trustees of ERES and as an employee of CAPREIT.

“Over the past four years at ERES, we created a platform, delivered remarkable external and organic growth, including tripling the number of residential units within our portfolio, drove absolute and per unit peer-leading revenue and earnings growth and established a best-in-class local operating team. This has been a successful collaboration between CAPREIT and ERES, and one that I am proud to have led,” commented Phillip Burns. “ERES is well-positioned to deliver robust operating results. Having been Chief Executive Officer since its inception, now is the time for me to step down,” continued Mr. Burns.

“ERES has benefitted greatly from Phillip’s leadership over the past four years as ERES transformed from TSXV-listed European Commercial REIT into Canada’s only TSX-listed REIT offering investors the opportunity to invest in European multi-residential properties. Under Phillip’s leadership, ERES has grown its residential portfolio to approximately 6,900 high-quality suites in the Netherlands. We thank Phillip for his contribution,” said Mark Kenney, Chief Executive Officer and President of CAPREIT.

Mr. Kenney will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of ERES, effective immediately. He will be supported by the continuing efforts of CAPREIT’s team that have been instrumental in managing ERES, including ERES’s Chief Financial Officer, Jenny Chou, and will be assisted by other members of CAPREIT’s senior management team, including Julian Schonfeldt, CAPREIT’s Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Kenney has also joined ERES’s Board of Trustees, effective immediately.

“CAPREIT has acted as ERES’s asset and property manager since 2019,” commented Mark Kenney, Chief Executive Officer. “As one of the largest owners and managers of multi-residential real estate in Canada, CAPREIT’s strong team, including its European operating team of over 60 employees, is well positioned to continue to deliver strong operating results for ERES.”

About ERES

ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. ERES’s units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canada’s only European-focused, multi-residential REIT, with a current initial focus on investing in high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. ERES owns a portfolio of 158 multi-residential properties, comprised of 6,900 suites and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, and owns one office property in Germany and one office property in Belgium.

ERES’s registered and principal business office is located at 11 Church Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W1.

For more information, please visit our website at www.eresreit.com.

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

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws which reflect ERES’s and CAPREIT’s current expectations and projections about future results. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intent”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “consider”, “should”, “plans”, “predict”, “estimate”, “forward”, “potential”, “could”, “likely”, “approximately”, “scheduled”, “forecast”, “variation” or “continue”, or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Particularly, statements regarding ERES’s future results, performance, prospects and opportunities are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this press release. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although ERES and CAPREIT believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct 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, including ERES’s most recently filed annual information form and management’s discussion and analysis, that can be obtained on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Except as specifically required by applicable Canadian securities law, neither ERES nor CAPREIT undertakes any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing ERES’s or CAPREIT’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.