RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Completes Executive Leadership Appointments

TORONTO, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (“RioCan” or the “Trust”) (TSX: REI.UN) today announced that the Trust has completed the transition of its Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) from Edward Sonshine, the founder of RioCan, to Jonathan Gitlin who is appointed as President and CEO. Mr. Sonshine has taken on the role of Non-Executive Chairman of RioCan’s Board of Trustees. This is the final step of RioCan’s CEO succession plan announced in March of 2019. Concurrently, Andrew Duncan assumed the position of Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”), a new role at RioCan. In this position, Mr. Duncan expands his leadership of RioCan’s extensive development program to integrate that of the Trust’s strategic investment initiatives, which were led by Mr. Gitlin prior to his promotion to President and CEO. The seamless transition of duties has enabled RioCan’s consistent focus to create unitholder value and the execution of its strategy to be Canada’s leading major market, mixed-use focused REIT.

“It has been a privilege to serve RioCan as CEO for more than 27 years,” said Edward Sonshine, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. “Working alongside such a talented, dedicated team has been the highlight of my career, and I am confident that under Jonathan’s leadership, RioCan will build on the strong foundation we have established together. I look forward to being aboard in an advisory capacity and watching RioCan achieve its next generation of success.”

“We will all sincerely miss Ed’s leadership, and personally, I could not be more pleased that we will continue to benefit from his advice as Non-Executive Chairman. I have worked closely with Ed to define our strategies while building a best-in-class portfolio that will pave the way for our future as Canada’s dominant urban mixed-use REIT.” said Jonathan Gitlin, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The promotion of Andrew to CIO is a further example of the smooth integration process and ongoing evolution of RioCan. Our tenants, partners, unitholders and all of RioCan will benefit from the strong and talented professionals across the organization led by our visionary leadership team.”

About RioCan

RioCan is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment trusts. RioCan owns, manages and develops retail-focused, increasingly mixed-use properties located in prime, high-density transit-oriented areas where Canadians want to shop, live and work. As at December 31, 2020, our portfolio is comprised of 223 properties with an aggregate net leasable area of approximately 38.3 million square feet (at RioCan's interest) including office, residential rental and 14 development properties. To learn more about us, please visit

Forward Looking Information

This News Release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. This information reflects RioCan’s objectives, our strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as statements with respect to management’s beliefs, estimates and intentions concerning anticipated future events or expectations that are not historical facts. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “should”, “plan”, “continue”, or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events.

Such forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. All forward-looking information in this News Release is qualified by these cautionary statements.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future events or performance and, by its nature, is based on RioCan’s current estimates and assumptions, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in the “Risks and Uncertainties” section in RioCan's MD&A for the period ended December 31, 2020 and in our most recent Annual Information Form, which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the forward-looking information contained in this News Release.

Although the forward-looking information contained in this News Release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with this forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are made as of the date hereof, and should not be relied upon as representing RioCan’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this News Release. Management undertakes no obligation, except as required by applicable law, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.