Activist investor seeking to replace four trustees on First Capital REIT board

VANCOUVER – Activist investor Sandpiper Group is seeking to replace four of the nine trustees at First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust, including chair Bernard McDonell.

Sandpiper chief executive Samir Manji says the incumbent board and management are pursuing strategies that will dismantle First Capital’s irreplaceable portfolio.

Sandpiper says, together with its joint actor Artis Real Estate Investment Trust, it holds about a nine per cent stake in First Capital.

The company has called for a unitholder meeting to vote on its nominees by no later than March 1, 2023.

Sandpiper is seeking to replace McDonell, Andrea Stephen, Annalisa King and Leonard Abramsky as trustees of the trust. Its nominees include Manji, Kerry Adams, Elizabeth DelBianco and Jacqueline Moss.

First Capital declined to comment Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:FCR.UN, TSX:AX.UN)