ISS and Glass Lewis Endorse European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust’s Arrangement with Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust
TORONTO, April 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (“ERES” or the “REIT”) (TSX: ERE.UN) is pleased to announce that the two leading independent proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (“Glass Lewis”) have both recommended that holders (the “Unitholders”) of trust units and non-participating special voting units vote FOR the proposed arrangement (the “Arrangement”) with Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (“CAPREIT”) at the upcoming special meeting of Unitholders (the “Meeting”).
ISS stated that the transaction makes sense due to the certainty of value and immediate liquidity provided by the cash consideration. Among other reasons for its recommendation, it noted that the offer price is above the midpoint of the formal valuation, the REIT’s board of trustees (the “REIT Board”) conducted a robust market check process and the upside on a standalone basis appears limited, as the REIT has already completed significant asset dispositions and returned substantial capital to Unitholders through special distributions.
Among other reasons for its recommendation, Glass Lewis noted that the Arrangement provides a fully cash exit, is not subject to a financing condition, and follows an extended process during which no competing proposal for the entire REIT emerged. In this context, the certainty of value and execution compares favourably to the more uncertain standalone alternative.
Permission to use quotations from ISS’s and Glass Lewis’s reports was neither sought nor obtained.
In addition to the recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, the Arrangement has been supported by fairness opinions provided to a special committee of independent trustees of the REIT (the “Special Committee”) and the REIT Board from each of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and Haywood Securities Inc. (“Haywood”) and a formal valuation from Haywood. After receiving the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee, and based on advice from its independent financial and legal advisors, the REIT Board unanimously (with conflicted trustees abstaining) determined that the Arrangement is in the best interests of the REIT and the consideration to be received by Unitholders other than CAPREIT and its affiliates (the “Public REIT Unitholders”) is fair, from a financial point of view, to the Public REIT Unitholders and is unanimously (with conflicted trustees abstaining) recommending that the Public REIT Unitholders vote FOR the Arrangement.
VOTING AND MEETING DETAILS
The proxy voting deadline is at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on April 24, 2026, or 24 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) prior to any adjournment or postponement of the Meeting.
The Meeting is scheduled to be held in a virtual-only meeting format via live webcast online at at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on April 27, 2026. The management information circular and related Meeting materials have been filed by the REIT on SEDAR+ and are available under the REIT’s profile at , and on the REIT’s website at .
QUESTIONS? NEED HELP VOTING?
If you have any questions or need assistance in your consideration of the Arrangement or with the completion and delivery of your proxy, please contact the REIT’s strategic unitholder advisor and proxy solicitation agent, Shorecrest Group, by telephone toll free at 1-888-637-5789 or collect at 647-931-7454, or by email at .
ABOUT ERES
ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. The ERES Units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canada’s only European-focused multi-residential REIT, with a current portfolio of high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. As at December 31, 2025, ERES owned 1,029 residential suites, including 410 suites classified as assets held for sale, and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, with a total fair value of approximately €310.1 million, including approximately €87.9 million of assets held for sale. ERES’s registered and principal business office is located at 11 Church Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W1. For more information please visit ERES’s website at .
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intent”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “consider”, “should”, “plans”, “predict”, “estimate”, “forward”, “potential”, “could”, “likely”, “approximately”, “scheduled”, “forecast”, “variation” or “continue”, or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. The forward-looking information in this press release relates only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this press release. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from this forward-looking information. Although ERES believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking information are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking information will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information in this press release is subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from this forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include failure to receive the required court approval to effect the Arrangement; the potential of a third party making a superior proposal to the Arrangement; and other risks and uncertainties pertaining to ERES as more fully described in regulatory filings that can be obtained on SEDAR+ at . Except as specifically required by applicable Canadian securities law, ERES does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the information is provided or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. This forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing ERES’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
For more information, please contact:
ERES
Ms. Jenny Chou
Chief Financial Officer
(416) 354-0188
