Vancouver-based Optima Living and Axium Infrastructure have paid $440 million for seven seniors' residential projects in Alberta, with a total of 1,200 beds.
The strategic acquisition expands the duo’s Yarrow joint venture’s footprint in Alberta and positions it among top operators by bed count in the Edmonton region.
“This acquisition deepens our collaboration with Axium and demonstrates our ability to create value through acquiring, integrating, and managing a sizeable and varied portfolio of seniors living communities, which significantly solidifies Optima's presence in Western Canada,” said Karim Kassam, Optima Living’s co-founder and principal in a statement.
“We believe there are strong tailwinds ahead for seniors housing due to sector demographics and a shortage of seniors living options creating long wait lists, especially for government funded beds,” he added.
Optima has operated independent and assisted-living care facilities in Alberta and B.C. since 2006 and has a portfolio of 33 assets and more than 3,400 beds.
Montreal-headquartered Axium Infrastructure is an independent portfolio management firm with offices in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. It had over $10 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2022, as well as $1.7 billion in co-investments, according to the Real Estate News Exchange.
Four of the assets are in Edmonton: the 169-suite Laurel Heights Retirement Residence, the 174-suite Lewis Estates, MacTaggart Place with 180 suites and the 172-suite Rutherford Heights.
The deal also includes the St. Albert Retirement Residence in St. Albert, which opened in 2016, and Summerwood Village in Sherwood Park, Alberta.
The only Calgary asset is Sage Hill Retirement Residence, which was opened in 2016.
Dentons and National Bank Financial acted as legal and financial advisors, respectively, to the joint venture for the acquisition.
