Ontario Pension Board Purchases 50 Per Cent Interest in RBC Centre

Ontario Pension Board, through its subsidiary OPB (155 Wellington) Inc., completed the acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in the RBC Centre in Toronto from Ontrea Inc. for a purchase price of $300 million. The RBC Centre is a recently-built, 1.2 million square-foot AAA office tower in downtown Toronto which is 98 per cent leased, with Royal Bank of Canada and RBC Dexia Investor Services making up 72 per cent of the property's rentable area. The building recently attained LEED Gold Certification, making it the largest LEED New Construction project in Canada. Ontrea Inc. remains the owner of the other 50 per cent interest in the building, with property management provided by The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited.

Ontario Pension Board administers Ontario's Public Service Pension Plan on behalf of more than 42,300 members, 35,500 retired members and 3,900 former members. It was established more than 80 years ago and has more than $17 billion in assets. Ontrea Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) and was established in 1991 to provide OTPP with a vehicle to invest in real estate. The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, also a wholly owned subsidiary of OTPP, is one of North America's largest investors, owners and managers of commercial real estate.

Ontario Pension Board was represented by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, with a team led by Chris Huband, with assistance from Thomas von Hahn, Silvana D'Alimonte, Dan Kofman, Debbie Salzberger (competition); Gerry Swinkin, John Hutmacher, Larry Winton, Lauren Temple, Bavia Bisetty, Beth Earon, Shafaq Ahmad and many others.

Ontrea Inc. was represented by Torys LLP. The Torys team was led by David Dell, who received assistance from Elise Sieradzki, Omar Wakil (competition) and Nicole Hastings.

Jonathan See of McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted for Computershare Trust Company of Canada.