investments - Meckelborg Financial Group

Alignvest – June 30, 2024 Management Report

by Meckelborg Financial Group on August 13, 2024 with No Comments

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q2 2024 Management Report.

The first half of 2024 has been exceptionally busy for us! After spending most of 2023 cultivating and developing our acquisition pipeline, we were able to move quickly to secure several opportunities with vendors when interest rates stabilized after peaking in Q4 2023.

We kicked off the year in February with the acquisition of 417Nelson in Ottawa. This was a transaction we worked to source for over five years before it finally became actionable. In Q2 2024, we acquired 308 King, Fergus House and Hespeler House, all assets located in Waterloo, through proprietary relationships with the respective vendors. These acquisitions give us further scale in the market and let us effectively leverage our operating platform. We then acquired The Link in Montreal, which is ideally located near Concordia University, and gives us an entry into another attractive market for student housing.

With these acquisitions completed, we have solidified our position as the leading off campus student housing provider in Canada. We now have a portfolio of 7,159 beds across 17 properties in seven university markets across the country.

We are now focused on integrating these acquisitions and optimizing our overall portfolio as we get ready for the start of the 2024/2025 academic year. Our current occupancy (including newly acquired assets) is strong at almost 97%. Our pre-leasing continues to be robust, and we are expecting another year of strong rent growth.

In 2024, we have continued to deliver strong results to our investors, including a 6.5% YTD return as of June 30, 2024, and a 12.5% annualized return since inception (both are to Class F unitholders participating in our DRIP).

Below is the link to our Management Report. We have also included a link to our Q2 2024 Financial Statements. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Management Report

Q2 Financial Statements

ASH – Management Report

by Meckelborg Financial Group on May 8, 2024 with No Comments

MARCH 31, 2024 – MANAGEMENT REPORT

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q1 2024 Management Report.

We have had a very busy start to 2024 and are expecting a successful year for our REIT. The macroeconomic environment has shown signs of stabilization and opportunity. Interest rates have come down from their peak in Q4 2023. Further, CMHC financing has become more accessible to developers and investors, which has materially impacted our ability to positively underwrite acquisitions.

We kicked off the year with the acquisition of 417Nelson in Ottawa in February. This site nicely complements our other Ottawa properties and is conveniently located only a few minutes walk from the University of Ottawa. Continuing our growth trajectory, in April we announced the acquisition of 308 King in Waterloo, with an expected closing in late May. It’s important to note that we have spent several years working to secure both of these transactions. Our deep relationships and expertise provide us with a unique advantage compared to other investors in the sector. We have a robust pipeline of additional acquisition opportunities for continued growth.

Our 2024 pre-leasing season is off to a strong start. We are already almost 83% pre-leased for September 2024 at our privately-managed properties and are projecting a 21.8% gap-to-market on sitting rents when compared to current tenant lease rates. We are also pleased to confirm that the Canadian governments recent announcements to reduce the number of international student visas has not impacted the demand we continue to experience across our portfolio.

We are pleased with the results we have delivered to our investors, including a 3.2% return in Q1 2024 and 12.4% annualized since inception (both are to Class F unitholders participating in our DRIP). With a strong acquisition pipeline in front of us, we are actively raising capital to pursue multiple opportunities and continue our expansion across Canada. The future looks strong, and we are confident in our strategy and the corresponding returns for our investors.

Below is the link to our Management Report. We have also included links to our Q1 2024 Financial Statements and 2023 Audited Financial Statements. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Q1 2024 Management Report

Q1 2024 Financial Statements

2023 Audited Financial Statements

Alignvest Student Housing Acquisition

by Meckelborg Financial Group on April 22, 2024 with No Comments

ACQUISITION OF HIGH-QUALITY ASSET IN WATERLOO, ONTARIO

We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a binding contract to purchase a residential property located at 308 King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario (“308 King”).

308 King is a newly constructed, 25-storey building with 340 furnished units, providing housing for 659 students. The property is located within walking distance of both Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. The property offers on-site laundry, rooftop terraces with barbeques and lounge areas, an above-grade parking garage and bicycle parking. There is over 8,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.

With the addition of 308 King, Alignvest Student Housing REIT will own a portfolio that provides housing for almost 6,000 students across 14 properties in six university-focused Canadian markets.

The acquisition is scheduled to close in May 2024. Below is the link to the full press release announcing the acquisition of 308 King.

Press Release - 308 King Acquisition

April 2024 Information Sheet

Student Housing Acquitistion

by Meckelborg Financial Group on March 5, 2024 with No Comments

ACQUISITION OF HIGH-QUALITY STUDENT HOUSING ASSET IN OTTAWA, ONTARIO

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of a purpose-built student accommodation asset located at 417 Nelson Street, Ottawa, Ontario (“417Nelson”).

417Nelson is a modern 4-storey building with 94 beds in 53 fully furnished units. The property is in close proximity to our other Ottawa properties, which allows for operational efficiencies and enables us to continue to provide high-quality accommodation to students in the area. With this acquisition, we were able to assume attractive in-place CMHC financing which has a below-market interest rate of 2.32% and over six years of remaining term.

With the addition of 417Nelson, Alignvest Student Housing REIT now owns a portfolio of over 5,300 beds across 13 properties in six university-focused Canadian markets.

Below is the link to the full press release announcing the acquisition of 417Nelson.

Press Release - 417Nelson Acquisition February 2024 Information Sheet

Change is Coming – Always Improving

by Meckelborg Financial Group on February 7, 2024 with No Comments

At MFG, our Mission Statement is to be “Always improving”. Over the past 15 months, we have been refining the process of how we can better deliver our investment platform to our clients. Utilizing partnerships and data collected over the years, we’ve come up with a solution that we believe will improve our investment platform and improve our clients overall experience with MFG.

What is Changing?

We are transitioning to an investment model platform. Working with your Portfolio Manager, it will be determined which model is appropriate for you. Once this has been determined, you will own one or more of the new MFG Investment Models – Aggressive, Growth, and/or Balanced. These new Model Funds are built using the best investment managers and strategies that our team has researched. The platform utilizes the same investment philosophies of delivering an institutional quality portfolio to our clients.

The Benefits to our Clients

1. Increased Performance

– Via enhanced portfolio construction and efficient management capabilities

2. Time spent with your Portfolio Manager

– Spend more time focusing on other value add areas of your financial lives – IE: financial planning, insurance analysis, tax work, etc.

3. Communication will be improved through detailed Quarterly Reports

– These reports will include facts about the Model Fund, general market commentary and additional information that our PM Division finds relevant to our clients

When to Expect the Change – April 1st, 2024

We are very excited to be able to deliver this new and improved platform to our clients. There has been a lot of work put in by our team to get us to this point. As we approach April 1st, you can expect to receive multiple communication pieces from our team diving into deeper details on the upcoming changes. If you have any questions on the upcoming change and what it might look like for you personally, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your MFG Portfolio Manager.

We want to thank you for your continued trust and support of MFG. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Stay tuned.

PDF Version

Alignvest Student Housing – Q3 2023 Management Report

by Meckelborg Financial Group on November 1, 2023 with No Comments

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 – MANAGEMENT REPORT

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q3 2023 Management Report. We have had another successful leasing season, with current occupancy exceeding 99% and strong growth in rents on turnover beds. Interestingly, we had about 42% turnover this year, which means that we are expecting strong rent growth again next year when some of this year’s renewing tenants end their leases. We have a rental gap-to-market of $5.0 million and are targeting to deliver $42.5 million of NOI in the 2023/2024 academic year.

We continue to monitor and effectively manage our capital structure to optimize our returns. We have an attractive loan-to-value ratio of 46.5% on our mortgage debt, with a weighted average interest rate of 3.47% and staggered maturity dates. With the growth in our property values, we remain confident that we will be able to effectively refinance our maturing debt in 2024 and 2025.

As previously communicated, we temporarily closed the REIT for new investments in May 2023. We did this primarily because of the stalemate we were seeing in the market. While we continued to evaluate investment opportunities, there were substantial gaps between vendor asking prices and the price we were willing to bid. In addition, the debt markets were quite challenging to predict, making it difficult to underwrite investments.

We are now starting to see some attractive opportunities become available, where there is either attractive in-place debt (that can be assumed), the transaction can be completed at a price that delivers an attractive return for our REIT, or the opportunity is highly strategic. We also expect that several opportunities will become available at attractive prices over the next year or so, as highly leveraged vendors need to refinance properties at current interest rates. We want to be ready to act on these opportunities. Accordingly, we are pleased to announce that we will re-open the REIT for investments effective immediately, for the next monthly closing date as of November 30, 2023.

We are pleased to have delivered an annualized return of 12.5% since inception. We are also excited about our future growth, which continues to look strong, both from organic growth within our portfolio and from future investments. We are grateful for your continued support.

Below are the links to our Q3 2023 Management Report and Q3 2023 Financial Statements. We have also included the press release announcing our re-opening. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

Management Report

Press Release - October 2023

Financial Statements

See-More, at 1400 Seymour Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, consists of 491 beds adjacent to Dalhousie University.

See-More is at 100% occupancy for the 2023/2024 academic year

Alignvest Student Housing – Update

by Meckelborg Financial Group on June 29, 2023 with No Comments

Alignvest Student Housing (“Alignvest”) is pleased to announce an increase in the Fair Market Value (“FMV”) of the Units of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”) to $134.00 per Class F Unit and $130.83 per Class A Unit (collectively, the “Unit”) as at June 30, 2023.

Additionally, ASH REIT’s Board of Trustees have approved ASH REIT’s Monthly Distribution of $0.50 per Unit ($6.00 per Unit on annual basis), effective June 30, 2023, for unitholders of record as of June 1, 2023.

Please refer to the press release for additional information.

Press Release

Alignvest Student Housing- Management Report

by Meckelborg Financial Group on May 16, 2023 with No Comments

MARCH 31, 2023

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q1 2023 Management Report.

Despite the continuing volatility in both the equity and debt markets, our fair market value has remained stable and is starting to show growth due to our strong operating performance and our portfolio’s NOI growth in 2023. Our REIT’s performance speaks for itself – as of March 31, 2023, our privately managed portfolio is over 99% occupied, and as of May 5, 2023, is ~85% pre-leased for September 2023 at rates that exceed our budgets. We are building an attractive gap-to-market in rents of over $6 million, which bodes for well continued growth in 2024 and beyond.

As part of our continuing growth, we have increased our disclosure this quarter by providing comparative financial and operating metrics, as well as quarterly financials, which provides investors with enhanced tools to evaluate our performance. We are also pleased to announce the release of our 2023 ESG Report, which incorporates reporting on our Greenhouse Gas emissions. Below are the links to our Q1 2023 Financial Statements and ESG Report.

Below is the link to our Management Report. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

Q1 2023 Management Report

Q1 2023 Financial Statements

2022 Audited Financial Statements

2023 ESG Report

SEE-MORE, HALIFAX

Pictured above is See-More, our newest acquisition located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Throughout the due diligence process, our team analyzed the Environmental and Social components of the building in relation to our overall ESG strategy. The rooftop solar panel installation feeds directly into the domestic hot water and offsets the energy in all common areas of the building. This contributes to our goal of lowering our GHG emissions and sourcing non-emitting sources of energy. The art installation on the exterior wall is inspired by Mi’kmaw traditional porcupine quill work, petroglyphs, weavings, and other aspects of the local indigenous culture. The sentiment of the art speaks to the welcoming environment we want to create for our students; one that is inclusive, safe and also fun!

Dufferin Car Wash Update

by Meckelborg Financial Group on March 17, 2023 with No Comments

We are pleased to report to our Investors with this summary of our Great
White Car Wash Assets, including our existing facilities, the projects that
are currently under development, and those in the development pipeline.

As car wash developers/owners and operators, we continue to drive value for
our Investors through state-of-the-art facility development on ‘triple-A’ retail
locations. Our ‘Shark Club’ Membership model continues to grow a devoted
customer base, which provides inherent value in predictable and re-occurring
income. Operationally, superior chemical sourcing and modern titration technology
have allowed Great White to significantly lower our chemical costs while
improving our product offering, to a level we feel is ‘best in class’.