Cogir Real Estate has acquired Bayfield Realty Advisors, a commercial property management and development company with a portfolio of 18 properties that contain a total of more than 2.54 million square feet of retail space.
With the acquisition, Cogir enters Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and fortifies its footprint in Quebec, its home province. The terms of the deal were not announced.
“This is a pivotal moment and a great source of pride for the entire team,” Cogir President and CEO Mathieu Duguay said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
Bayfield Realty, based in Toronto and founded in 2005 by Harold Spring, has developed and managed residential, retail, industrial, office and retirement assets valued at more than $1.5 billion.
Spring expressed confidence in Cogir’s leadership and its ability to guide Bayfield moving forward.
"After a generation of growth and success, it is with mixed emotion that I announce my retirement and sale of Bayfield,” said Spring. “However, I am excited about the prospects under Cogir’s stewardship. Their evolution under the leadership of Mathieu Duguay has been remarkable and Bayfield is going to benefit significantly from this acquisition.”
Bayfield Chief Investment Officer Bernard Ockrant emphasized the strategic value of the deal. “Growing Bayfield’s institutional platform was a key consideration for the sale of our company, and Cogir provides the ideal basis and capital to foster our future growth,” Ockrant said in a statement.
Cogir was founded in 1995 and manages over 520 properties, including 74,000 housing units spread out over almost 7 million square feet in Canada and the United States. It has total assets of roughly $5 billion and employs about 20,000 workers. As part of the deal, 40 staffers from Bayfield will join Cogir.
The companies have a longstanding relationship. Cogir has managed Bayfield assets, including Galeries des Sources, Carrefour Pelletier, Carrefour Trois-Rivières and Résidence du Verger, all in Quebec.
Operations for clients, tenants and partners will continue without disruption, the companies said.