ERES REIT Completes €116 Million in Strategic Portfolio Sales

TORONTO, July 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (“ERES” or “the REIT”) (TSX:ERE.UN) announced today that it has closed on two dispositions of an aggregate 530 residential suites in the Netherlands for approximately €114.9 million in combined gross proceeds. ERES also announced that it has closed on the sale of one office building in the Netherlands for approximately €1.1 million. All amounts disclosed herein exclude transaction costs.

In June 2024, ERES completed the sale of 66 residential suites for approximately €14.2 million, with proceeds used in part to repay approximately €7.0 million in associated mortgage principal outstanding. On July 15, 2024, ERES closed on another sale of 464 residential suites for approximately €100.7 million, with partial proceeds used to repay approximately €62.8 million in associated mortgage principal outstanding. Also in July 2024, ERES completed the disposition of one office property in the Netherlands for approximately €1.1 million, with net proceeds used in full to pay down its associated portfolio of mortgage principal outstanding. As at March 31, 2024, the associated mortgages together had a weighted average term to maturity of approximately 3.9 years, and a weighted average interest rate of approximately 3.2%. Net proceeds from the transactions are intended to be used for the repayment of amounts outstanding on the revolving credit facility.

“We’ve been exploring various liquidity-generating opportunities in order to sturdy the REIT’s financial position and reduce its exposure to interest rate risk, and these three strategic dispositions accomplish just that,” commented Mark Kenney, Chief Executive Officer. “These transactions have freed up capital that we can reallocate into the repayment of our higher interest credit facility debt, which will reduce our leverage, enhance our cash flows, and strengthen our balance sheet.”

“Furthermore, we were able to complete these sales at prices at or above IFRS fair values, reinforcing the high quality of our property portfolio,” said Jenny Chou, Chief Financial Officer. “We’ve also been surfacing capital through our suite-by-suite privatization program, as we’ve completed the sale of an additional 53 individual suites during the second quarter of 2024, which generated €14.2 million in incremental gross proceeds. We’re pleased to be executing on our commitment to maximize unitholder value through all possible means, and we remain focused on this mission going forward.”

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 portfolio of high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. As at March 31, 2024, ERES owned 158 multi-residential properties, comprised of approximately 6,900 residential suites and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, and owned one commercial property in Germany and one commercial property in Belgium. For more information about ERES, its business and its investment highlights, please visit our website at www.eresreit.com and our public disclosure which can be found under our profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws which reflect ERES’s current expectations and projections about future results. Forward-looking information 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. The forward-looking information in this press release relates 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 information contained in this press release. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from this forward-looking information. Although ERES believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking information are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking information will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including regarding the intended use of proceeds from the transactions, the impact of the transactions on ERES’s financial performance and metrics, and the impact of higher interest rates and general economic conditions on ERES. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Forward looking information in this press release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from this forward-looking information. Risks and uncertainties pertaining to ERES are more fully described in regulatory filings that can be obtained on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Except as specifically required by applicable Canadian securities law, ERES does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the information is provided or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. This forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing ERES’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

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