CANADA - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has acquired a 50% stake in two prime office properties in Vancouver, the remainder of which is owned by fellow Canadian pension fund OMERS.

The CAD155bn (€118bn) CPPIB deployed CAD115m in equity to acquire the stake in the office buildings located at 401 West Georgia Street and 800 Burrard, which are valued at a combined CAD230m.

Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of OMERS, will continue to be responsible for the management and leasing activities of the assets.

Peter Ballon, head of real estate investments for the Americas at CPPIB, said: "This acquisition expands CPPIB's Vancouver office portfolio to six high quality properties totalling over 1.5m square feet in a market where quality assets rarely trade.

"The downtown Vancouver office market is very attractive for long-term investors such as CPPIB."

CPPIB has previously partnered with OMERS Worldwide, the umbrella company that includes Oxford Properties among other OMERS' subsidiaries, to develop an office building in Toronto.

The 930,000 square foot property, which is to be built by Oxford Properties and CPPIB, will be the new headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

The 50/50 joint venture will be in charge of all aspects of the development and manage the property once completed.

CPPIB and Oxford Properties are also co-investors in another development project in Vancouver: the 1021 West Hastings Street.

At December 31, 2011, CPPIB's real estate investments totalled CAD14.4bn, representing 9.5% of the total investment portfolio.

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