Dilawri Group of Companies announced the opening of its new dealership Infiniti Gallery this week, as well as the financial results of the Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust it established this past June, the focus of which is speeding up consolidation and acquiring dealerships in Canada and potentially the U.S.

With the addition of Infiniti Gallery, located in Northwest Calgary, the dealer group now touts 55 dealerships across Canada.

"Dilawri Group of Companies is excited to represent the Infiniti brand at Northwest Automall of Calgary, and we look forward to serving Infiniti customers in the city's north end. We invite everyone from across Calgary and the surrounding regions to visit us and experience the Infiniti line-up and the Dilawri difference first hand," said principal director Tony Dilawri.

The 26,000-square-foot Infiniti Gallery is the eighth dealership for Dilawri in the Calgary region and features a showroom, indoor service drive-thru, 17 service bays and a customer lounge.

Automotive Properties REIT financial results

In other news stemming from the dealer group, this week the Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust announced its financial results for the period of June 1 (the date of formation) through Sept. 30.

The REIT was created this past summer by Dilawri and it completed its initial public offering on July 22 of 7.5 million REIT units for gross proceeds of $75 million.

In conjunction with the IPO, the REIT also completed the acquisition of a portfolio of 26 retail automotive properties encompassing approximately 958,000 square feet of gross leasable area located in the Greater Vancouver Area, Calgary, Regina and the Greater Toronto Area for $357.7 million.  

It also issued an additional 620,000 REIT units during the aforementioned period for gross proceeds of $6.2 million.

Management shared the REIT performed in line with the adjusted forecast and expectations for the 71-day period.

Property revenue came in at $5.8 million, and property costs were $0.8 million, while general and administrative expenses came in at $0.3 million.

Other financial highlights included:

• Net operating income for the period was $5.0 million.
• The REIT's properties generated cash net operating income of $4.5 million for the 71-day period.  
• Funds from operations of $3.6 million, or $0.199 per unit, and adjusted funds from operations of $3.1 million, or $0.171 per Unit, for the 71-day period, were in line with forecasts.

"We believe the successful completion of our IPO and partial exercise of the over-allotment option during the volatile market conditions in early summer is a strong endorsement from the market of our strategy to own and invest in the real estate underlying high-quality automotive dealerships in strategic Canadian markets, and the stability of our cash flows to support unitholder distributions," said Milton Lamb, chief executive officer of Automotive Properties REIT. "As expected, the REIT's financial performance in the quarter was in-line with our forecast."

Lamb went on to say the REIT is now focused on building its acquisition pipeline.

"We are targeting prime dealership properties with cash flow stability in strategic urban markets across Canada that can enhance our brand and geographic diversification,” said Lamb.

“As the only Canadian REIT focused on automotive real estate, the REIT provides a unique opportunity for automotive dealership owners to monetize the real estate underlying their dealerships while retaining ownership and control of their core automotive dealership businesses. This provides them with liquidity to advance their individual strategic objectives, whether it be succession planning, directly investing in upgrading their dealerships, or redeploying capital to take advantage of the industry consolidation,” he continued.