Granite Real Estate
| |
| Public | |
| Traded as |
: GRP.U : GRT.UN |
| Industry | Real estate |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Key people |
Thomas Heslip, CEO |
| Website |
www |
Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (formerly MI Developments Inc.) is a Canadian industrial real estate operating company composed principally of former holdings of Magna International. As the former parent company of Magna Entertainment Corporation, it was North America's largest thoroughbred racing company. In June 2011, it sold its gaming assets to The Stronach Group.
Granite was founded as an arm of Magna International, and spun-off as a new public company, MI Developments, in 2003. It was originally controlled by Frank Stronach, founder of Magna, through multiple voting shares. In 2009, Magna Entertainment Corporation, which was majority owned by MI Developments, went bankrupt. In the preceding years, MI Developments had provided significant debt financing to MEC, often against the wishes of many of its shareholders, who alleged that the transfers benefited Frank Stronach at the expense of MI Developments.
In 2011, Stronach gave up control of the company. In return, the company transferred the gaming assets of the former Magna Entertainment Group to The Stronach Group, which was still controlled by Stronach. In 2012, MI Developments changed its name to Granite Real Estate, and moved its headquarters from Aurora to Toronto, in an attempt to distance itself from Magna.
In June 2017, dissident shareholders launched a successful proxy battle to install three new directors on the company's board. The shareholders were concerned about the company's cash reserve, which they perceived as excessive. In January 2018, Granite sold 10 properties for $400 million to an unknown buyer, in the process reducing the percentage of its portfolio rented to Magna International.
Granite's largest tenant is Magna International; as of January 2018, 61% of its portfolio was leased by Magna. Granite also owns warehouse and logistics properties not leased by Magna, making up 31% of its portfolio as of January 2018. As of October 2017, Granite had 92 properties, encompassing 30.2 million square feet, with a total value of $2.7 billion. Magna has properties located in Canada (26% of rental revenue), the United States (31% of rental revenue), Austria (27% of rental revenue), and the rest of Europe (15% of rental revenue).
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Wikipedia