Partners Real Estate Investment Trust Completes Two Montreal Acquisitions

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 18, 2013) - Partners Real Estate Investment Trust (the "REIT" or "Partners REIT") (TSX:PAR.UN) announced today that it has completed the previously-announced acquisitions of two newly-constructed newly-constructed, necessity-based, open-air retail centres in the Greater Montreal region totaling approximately 93,735 square feet of gross leasable area.

The Sorel Shopping Centre is a newly-constructed, 31,136 square foot open-air property, anchored by a SAQ liquor store and a Tim Hortons coffee shop. Sorel is located 45 minutes northeast of downtown Montreal. The property is strongly-positioned and is located adjacent to the busy Highway 30.

The Saint Remi Shopping Centre is a newly-constructed, 62,300 square foot open-air retail property, anchored by an IGA grocery store, Uniprix, the SAQ and Tim Hortons. The centre is well-situated in a primarily residential neighbourhood in a prime retail node for St. Remi, Quebec, located 30 minutes south of downtown Montreal. An additional approximately 25,000 square feet of the centre is to be completed with leases pending, including Dollarama as an anchor tenant, and is available for future acquisition by the REIT.

The REIT paid approximately $26.2 million for the properties, utilizing cash on hand from the REIT's recently completed bought-deal equity and debenture offerings. The properties are expected to be refinanced with new mortgages totaling $15.2 million at an average effective interest rate of approximately 3.4%. The properties are expected to generate annualized Net Operating Income of approximately $1.7 million and annualized Funds from Operations of $1.2 million.

"We are pleased to add these two high-quality retail properties to our growing portfolio," commented Patrick Miniutti, President. "With the closing of these properties, Partners REIT now has the benefit of another developer "Partner" who we look forward to continuing to create new shopping centres in the future that will be potential additions to the portfolio."

About Partners REIT

Partners REIT is a growth-oriented real estate investment trust, which currently owns (directly or indirectly) 35 retail properties, well-located in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, aggregating approximately 2.4 million square feet of leasable space. Partners REIT focuses on expanding and managing a portfolio of retail and mixed-use community and neighbourhood shopping centres located in both primary and secondary markets across Canada.

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions "expect," "will" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to Partners REIT. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect Partners REIT's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including access to capital, regulatory approvals, intended acquisitions and general economic and industry conditions. Although Partners REIT believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
Net operating income ("NOI") and funds from operations ("FFO") are non-IFRS measures often used by Canadian real estate investment trusts as measures of operating performance. NOI and FFO are presented herein because management believes these non-IFRS measures are relevant measures of the operating performance of the REIT.