Weekly Real Estate News
BSR Real Estate Investment Trust has won approval to list on the New York Stock Exchange, moving its U.S. trading presence to a major domestic exchange while changing its Canadian and over-the-counter listings.
The Sun Belt apartment owner announced October 8 that trading is expected to begin Wednesday, October 14, under the ticker BSRT. Listing approval is final, but the start of trading remains scheduled rather than completed.
BSR said its Canadian-dollar Toronto Stock Exchange listing will change from HOM.UN to BSRT.UN. Its U.S.-dollar Toronto listing, HOM.U, is expected to be delisted at the close of October 13. Trading on OTCQX under BSRTF is also scheduled to end as the NYSE listing takes effect.
For investors, the changes involve where units trade and the symbols under which they can be bought or sold. The announcement did not describe a new equity sale, property acquisition or alteration of existing ownership interests. Investors holding units in different currencies should pay attention to their brokers’ handling of the symbol and venue changes.
BSR is an internally managed real estate investment trust organized under Ontario law, with a portfolio of garden-style apartment communities in U.S. Sun Belt markets. WRE previously covered the REIT’s $87.5 million Dallas-area apartment acquisition, an example of its U.S. property exposure despite the Canadian trading structure.
A U.S. exchange listing may make the units more accessible to some domestic institutions and investors, but greater liquidity or a higher valuation cannot be assumed. Those results depend on demand for the shares and the underlying performance of the apartment portfolio.
BSR’s trustees and executives plan to ring the NYSE opening bell October 14. The company cautioned that its timetable is forward-looking and subject to change. The next verifiable milestone is the first completed NYSE trading session.
