Manulife launches inaugural Canadian Real Estate Investment Funds offering with $190 million acquisition of commercial properties

On February 28, 2011, Manulife Real Estate, the real estate arm of Manulife Financial, announced the formation of a new Manulife Real Estate Funds platform and the launch of its inaugural Manulife Canadian Real Estate Funds offering.

Structured as a private, two-tier limited partnership, Manulife Canadian Real Estate Funds launched with the acquisition from Manulife Financial of a portfolio of 11 income-producing commercial properties valued at approximately $190 million. The portfolio totals approximately 1.8 million square feet of office and industrial space and is diversified by geography, tenant base and asset class.

The Manulife Canadian Real Estate Funds were represented by Fasken Martineau with a team that included Anil Aggarwal, Garth Foster and Munier Saloojee (corporate/securities), Dan Law, Stuart Blyth, Dugan Edmison, Katherine Christie and Harpreet Nahal (real estate), Mitchell Thaw (tax), Paul Casuccio (commodity tax) and Huy Do (competition).