A new commercial mortgage-backed offering and an acquisition by a major Canadian securities firm highlighted the happenings in the Canadian market last week.
Merrill Lynch Mortgage Loans has begun road shows for an approximate C$287.62 million commercial mortgage-backed transaction. The deal consists of 63 mortgages, seven of them originated by GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. and the rest by Merrill. The four public tranches constitute $255.98 million, or 88%, of the deal, and includes a fast-pay and a slow-pay triple-A rated tranche. The remaining 12% of the deal is being placed through eight private tranches.
The largest properties in the deal include the RioCan Charlottetown Mall in Prince Edward Island; Airport Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba; RioCan Walmart in Belleville, Ontario; and Evergreen Mobile Home Park in Edmonton, Alberta. Pricing is expected to be Nov. 22, with the books opening Nov. 20.
As two recent CMBS deals in the country were difficult to place, Merrill doesn't anticipate any problems with its transaction, according to reports.
In other news, TD Securities will acquire boutique brokerage Newcrest Capital Inc. for $224 billion in cash and stock. The new company will be known as TD Newcrest, and is expected to ramp up TD's investment banking and institutional equities operations.
