Mr. Blair Welch reports

SLATE RETAIL REIT ANNOUNCES U.S.$36 MILLION IN PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS AND C$50 MILLION BOUGHT DEAL EQUITY OFFERING

Slate Retail REIT has entered into agreements to acquire two properties representing 250,569 square feet of gross leasable area for an aggregate purchase price of $35.8-million (U.S.). The acquisitions consist of a 63,572-square-foot shopping centre located in Seminole, Fla. (Seminole Oaks), and a 186,997-square-foot shopping centre located in Derry, N.H. (Derry Meadows). The REIT also announced that it has reached an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters to issue 4.26 million Class U trust units of the REIT on a bought-deal basis for gross proceeds of approximately $50-million.

The acquisitions

Seminole Oaks is a 97-per-cent-occupied, 63,572-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping centre in Seminole, Fla., with a purchase price of $11.35-million (U.S.) ($179 (U.S.) per square foot). The property is anchored by Winn-Dixie. The acquisition is expected to be completed in fourth quarter 2014 subject to customary closing conditions.

Derry Meadows is a 94-per-cent-occupied, 186,997-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping centre in Derry, N.H., with a purchase price of $24.4-million (U.S.) ($131 (U.S.) per square foot). The property is anchored by Hannaford Foods, a Northeastern United States supermarket banner under the wholly owned subsidiary of investment-grade supermarket operator Delhaize Group. The acquisition is expected to be completed in fourth quarter 2014 subject to customary closing conditions.

The acquisitions are expected to be accretive to the REIT's adjusted funds from operations per unit. Combined with the previously announced acquisitions of North Summit Square, East Little Creek, Waterbury Plaza and Wellington Park, the REIT has announced or completed $104.1-million (U.S.) in acquisitions since the April 15, 2014, combination transaction which created the REIT. The closed acquisitions and the acquisitions have a blended all-in cap rate of 7.5 per cent.

The offering

In connection with the acquisitions, the REIT announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell to a syndicate of underwriters led by joint bookrunners CIBC and GMP Securities, and including BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, National Bank Financial, Raymond James Ltd., Scotiabank and TD Securities, on a bought-deal basis, 4.26 million units at a price of $11.75 per unit (units may also be purchased at the U.S. offering price of $10.72 (U.S.) per unit) for gross proceeds to the REIT of approximately $50-million (or $46-million (U.S.)). The REIT has also granted the underwriters an overallotment option to purchase up to an additional 639,000 units on the same terms and conditions, exercisable at any time, in whole or in part, up to 30 days after the closing of the offering.

The REIT intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, including any amounts received on the exercise of the overallotment option, to finance the purchase price for the acquisitions, repay amounts drawn under the REIT's credit facilities (which were used to partially finance the closed acquisitions), and for future acquisitions and general trust purposes. The offering is not conditional upon the closing of one or both of the acquisitions.

We seek Safe Harbor.