{"id":863265,"date":"2026-08-19T03:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863265\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T03:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:20:09","slug":"new-york-real-estate-moguls-embrace-canada-with-3-4-billion-takeover-bid-for-toronto-based-hr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863265\/","title":{"rendered":"New York real estate moguls embrace Canada with $3.4-billion takeover bid for Toronto-based H&R"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

GO Residential REIT\u2019s One Sutton Place North and Two Sutton Place North in Manhattan.Evan Joseph\/Supplied<\/p>\n

For the native New Yorkers intent on building the leading luxury apartment owner in the Big Apple, the road to expansion runs through Toronto. <\/p>\n

GO Residential Real Estate Investment Trust GO-U-T <\/a>founders Joshua Gotlib, the company\u2019s chief executive officer, and chair Meyer Orbach are doing the rounds with investors this week trying to sell what is proving to be an unpopular $3.4-billion takeover bid for H&R REIT HR-UN-T<\/a>. <\/p>\n

GO, which assembled a portfolio of high-end Manhattan apartments with more than 3,000 units since being launched four years ago, will vault into the ranks of North America\u2019s largest residential REITs if investors accept its units-and-cash offer for H&R. Toronto-based H&R owns a portfolio of properties across Canada and the U.S., including the marquee Jackson Point high-rise in the borough of Queens plus 26 other properties, mainly in Florida and Texas. <\/p>\n

The price of both GO and H&R units fell after the complex transaction<\/a> was announced on Aug. 11, as investors attempt to understand GO\u2019s national growth strategy and H&R founder and CEO Tom Hofstedter\u2019s role in the transaction. GO\u2019s bid came after H&R ran a two-year sales process. One analyst called the offer \u201cunderwhelming.\u201d The potential buyers, however, are pitching the upside that comes with swapping H&R units for GO\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a unique opportunity to take a leader in luxury New York residential real estate into gateway, high-growth Sun Belt cities,\u201d Mr. Gotlib said in his first media interview since GO went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gotlib and Mr. Orbach, co-owner of the NBA\u2019s Minnesota Timberwolves, made their national ambitions clear when they launched GO \u2013 a play on the two executive\u2019s initials, the CEO said. <\/p>\n

If GO and H&R unitholders approve the takeover, GO will become the second largest residential REIT in the domestic market, behind the $5.1-billion Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, and seventh largest in North America. <\/p>\n

Mr. Gotlib said with this scale, GO will attract additional interest from institutional investors. After the acquisition, GO plans to list on a U.S. exchange and should join the S&P\/TSX index and U.S. benchmarks such as the Russell index. Mr. Gotlib said this could result in demand for up to 40 million units from passive fund managers. <\/p>\n

The planned takeover will see H&R\u2019s owners receive $4.28 a unit in cash plus 0.5688 GO units for each H&R unit. <\/p>\n

U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Inc. plans to purchase some of H&R\u2019s industrial properties for cash. Two institutional fund managers, Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, will pay cash for the other 50 per cent of H&R industrial buildings initially acquired as part of a partnership struck between the three parties in 2014. <\/p>\n

The remainder of the cash will come from a family company owned by H&R\u2019s Mr. Hofstedter, who founded the REIT 30 years ago, and will purchase a number of properties.<\/p>\n

Several investors are questioning Mr. Hofstedter\u2019s role in the transaction, including his lack of continuing commitment to the REIT. <\/p>\n

Cole Smead, CEO of fund manager Smead Capital Management, owns 490,000 H&R units worth roughly $5-million. In an e-mail, he questioned why Mr. Hofstedter is cashing out his family\u2019s 44-million-unit stake in the company, while urging other unitholders to accept GO units as partial payment. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe praised the new GO team that will lead the existing shareholders,\u201d Mr. Smead said. \u201cIf he loves them so much, why will he own zero of the combined company?\u201d<\/p>\n

GO\u2019s founders said Mr. Hofstedter is playing a crucial role by agreeing to purchase properties other bidders don\u2019t want, including raw land and office buildings. He will continue to co-own a property in Miami with GO. Mr. Hofstedter also pledged up to $51-million in support payments to GO over the next two years, if buildings fail to fill up with tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom\u2019s commitment to this transaction is massive, and we have no issue with his decisions on his personal holdings,\u201d Mr. Gotlib said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gotlib and Mr. Orbach, who each own more than US$50-million of GO units, grew up in New York and began their careers independently as investors in affordable residential properties. After selling each other buildings, the two became friends. <\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Gotlib and his family relocated to Florida, and he began working from Mr. Orbach\u2019s home in New Jersey when he was in the region. The idea of teaming up to buy a luxury apartment building portfolio was born at Mr. Orbach\u2019s kitchen table.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the pandemic, the real estate world divided between those who thought New York would become a zombie city and those who still believed,\u201d Mr. Gotlib said. \u201cWe never lost faith in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, 2022, GO made its first major acquisition, buying a Manhattan complex called the American Copper Buildings for US$837-million. <\/p>\n

The company decided to go public on the TSX after being pitched by dealmakers from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and raised US$410-million in July, 2025. Mr. Gotlib said: \u201cCanadian REIT investors have proved to be a sophisticated, supportive community.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: GO Residential REIT\u2019s One Sutton Place North and Two Sutton Place North in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-863265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}