Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAPREIT) has agreed to acquire all outstanding units of European Residential ERES that it does not already own in an all-cash transaction, valuing the trust at approximately $441 million, including debt.

CAPREIT already owns a majority stake in ERES. Under the arrangement agreement, a CAPREIT affiliate will pay $1.19 per ERES unit to public unitholders. The deal will take the European-focused residential REIT private and conclude a multi-year strategic review and wind-down process for the trust.

Toronto-based ERES’ special committee and board of trustees—excluding conflicted members—unanimously approved the transaction and recommend that public unitholders vote in favour of the deal. The board received fairness opinions from BMO Capital Markets and Haywood Securities, and a formal valuation from Haywood, placing the fair market value of ERES units between $1.05 and $1.25 each.

“We are pleased with the outcome of ERES’s final strategic review, which reflects the culmination of a disciplined, multi-year wind-down focused on prudent financial management and value maximization,” said Jenny Chou, CFO of ERES. “Consistent with those principles, this all-cash transaction enables the efficient return of remaining capital to public ERES unitholders, and brings our mandate to an orderly and definitive close.”

The trust said the transaction caps a value-enhancement strategy that has already returned €1.90 per unit (about C$2.96) to investors through special distributions since 2024. Combined with the $1.19-per-unit cash payment, total capital returned to unitholders will amount to about $4.15 per unit—roughly 32% above the closing price of $3.15 recorded on Nov. 6, 2024.

“The strategic review was thorough and comprehensive, with all proposals for ERES’ residual portfolio carefully evaluated,” said Ira Gluskin, chair of the ERES special committee. “Following this process, the special committee, together with its independent financial advisors, determined that this transaction achieves a fair consideration that optimizes value for all ERES unitholders, and therefore represents the most compelling path to the conclusion of ERES’ dissolution. As such, the special committee unanimously recommends its approval.”

Toronto-based CAPREIT currently holds an effective interest of about 65% in ERES and will own all units once the deal closes.

“This Transaction marks a natural and constructive ending to ERES, after several successful years of diligent, well-executed downsizing,” said Stephen Co, CFO of CAPREIT. “By taking ERES private, CAPREIT can determine the future of the remaining assets in alignment with its long-term objectives, while providing public ERES unitholders with a timely and certain all-cash exit. We believe this outcome delivers an ideal resolution for both ERES and CAPREIT unitholders alike.”

The transaction will be completed through a statutory plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act. ERES expects to hold a special meeting of unitholders in April to vote on the deal, which requires approval from two-thirds of votes cast and a simple majority from minority unitholders. If approved, the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, after which ERES units will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

ERES is an open-ended REIT focused on multi-residential properties in the Netherlands. As of Dec. 31, 2025, it owned 1,029 residential suites and ancillary retail space with a total fair value of about €310.1 million.

CAPREIT is Canada’s largest publicly traded provider of rental housing, with about 45,500 apartment suites and townhomes across Canada and the Netherlands and a portfolio valued at roughly $14.7 billion.

Pictured: Former Netherlands property owned by ERES.

Photo: CAPREIT