SmartCentres Receives TSX Approval to Proceed with Normal Course Issuer Bid

TORONTO, March 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (“SmartCentres” or the “Trust”) (TSX:SRU.UN) announced today that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) has accepted the notice filed by SmartCentres to establish a normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) program.

The NCIB program commences on March 31, 2021 and will terminate on March 30, 2022, or on such earlier date as SmartCentres may complete its purchases pursuant to a Notice of Intention filed with the TSX. Under the NCIB program, SmartCentres is authorized to purchase up to 12,935,063 of its variable voting units (“Units”) (out of the 144,618,657 Units outstanding as at March 19, 2021) representing approximately 10% of the public float as at March 19, 2021, by way of normal course purchases effected through the facilities of the TSX and/or alternative Canadian trading systems. The average daily trading volume for the six months ended February 2021 was 632,790 Units. All Units purchased by SmartCentres will be cancelled. Pursuant to the terms of the previous normal course issuer bid approved by the TSX on March 27, 2020, SmartCentres was authorized to repurchase up to 6,500,835 Units, however, SmartCentres did not purchase any Units during such NCIB.

In deciding to establish the NCIB, SmartCentres believes that the market price of the Units may not, from time to time, fully reflect their value and accordingly the purchase of the Units would be in the best interest of SmartCentres and an attractive and appropriate use of available funds.

Purchases will be made by SmartCentres in accordance with the requirements of the TSX and the price which SmartCentres will pay for any such Units will be the market price of any such Units at the time of acquisition, or such other price as may be permitted by the TSX. In connection with the NCIB program, SmartCentres intends to enter into an automatic purchase plan with its designated broker to allow for purchases of its Units during certain pre-determined black-out periods, subject to certain parameters as to price and number of Units. Outside of these pre-determined black-out periods, Units will be repurchased in accordance with management’s discretion, subject to applicable law. For purposes of the TSX rules, a maximum of 158,197 Units may be purchased by SmartCentres on any one day under the bid, except where purchases are made in accordance with the “block purchase exception” of the TSX rules.