The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 7, edition that Canaccord Genuity analyst Mark Rothschild downgraded Minto Apartment REIT from "buy" to "hold" following Monday's announcement of the company's plan to go private in a deal valued at $2.3-billion, including debt. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Rothschild believes this move highlights value at a challenging time for Canadian apartment REITs. Mr. Rothschild increased his target for Minto units to $18 to reflect the offer from $15.50 Analysts on average target the shares at $17.17. Mr. Rothschild says in a note: "We view this transaction positively as the REIT's units traded at an abnormally large discount to NAV for an extended period of time, and with no apparent near-term catalyst and soft rental apartment fundamentals across Canada, it was difficult to see the unit price recovering meaningfully any time soon. Further, with rental apartment fundamentals likely to remain soft through 2026, and the bid relatively close to our NAV estimate (actually is in-line with our NAV when considering the break-up fee), we do not believe there would be material interest from other groups."