KingSett, AIMCo Partner on $1.9B Portfolio

TORONTO-ING Industrial Fund of Australia and ING Group, based in Australia, have agreed to sell their joint interest in the 400-property portfolio ING Summit Industrial Fund LP to a joint venture of locally-based KingSett Capital Inc. and Alberta Investment Management Corp. The portfolio, commonly called Summit, includes 32 million square feet of light industrial property and 751 acres of land across Canada.

The value of the portfolio is about $1.9 billion, and includes assumed debt, according to ING. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The venture will also buy ING Real Estate Canada, the manager of Summit with 167 employees across the country’s major markets, for an undisclosed amount.

Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Group, said his company is trying to focus on improving the performance of its banking and insurance business, managing risk and the business portfolio. “This transaction is in line with ING’s stated objective of reducing its exposure to the real estate industry,” Hommen said in a statement.

Canada is drawing investment from all over the world, and especially from the United States, according to Ted Morandin with Morprop Advisors LLC. “There’s lots of debt and lots of equity, just stronger market fundamentals all around. The banks are strong. I bring American investors to Canada to do large scale transactions, and they just can’t believe how things are so different.” He tells GlobeSt.com he has an investor that is now looking to place $100 million into Canada, preferably in Toronto. The investor tried, but couldn’t get into the Summit deal, he says.

KingSett, based here, is one of Canada’s largest private equity real estate investment businesses. Aimco, an institutional investor, manages about $66 billion of Alberta public sector pension and endowment assets, including a real estate portfolio valued in excess of $4.7 billion.