Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Michelle, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Artis REIT's third quarter 2022 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then the number two. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Heather Nikkel. Please go ahead. Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us for Artis REIT's third quarter 2022 results conference call. With me on today's call is Artis' President and CEO, Samir Manji, CFO Jaclyn Koenig, and COO Kim Riley. A replay of this call will be available until Friday, November 11th, and can be accessed by using the telephone numbers and passcodes that were provided in yesterday's press release. A recording will also be made available on our website. I would also like to remind you that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied today. We have identified such factors in our public filings with the securities regulators and suggest that you review those filings. In addition, we may refer to non-GAAP and supplementary financial measures that are not defined under IFRS and are not intended to represent financial performance, financial position, or cash flows for the period, nor should these measures be viewed as an alternative to net income, cash flow from operations, or other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. Lastly, as we discuss our performance, please keep in mind that all figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. I will now turn the call over to Samir. Thank you, Heather, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our Q3 results conference call. As we've done in previous quarters, I plan to keep my remarks high level and focused on the progress we've made towards the execution of our business transformation plan, both during the quarter and since the announcement in March 2021. The three pillars of our strategy are strengthening the balance sheet, driving organic growth, and focusing on value investing. The first step in strengthening the balance sheet was to unlock value through the monetization of certain assets in the portfolio. In total, since the announcement of the REIT's new strategy in March of 2021, we have sold 47 assets, including 31 industrial, 10 office, and six retail properties. During the third quarter, we closed on the sale of one office property and made significant progress with other dispositions. We anticipate a number of sale transactions will be completed during the fourth quarter, which will reduce leverage and enhance Artis' overall liquidity. The REIT is also working diligently on managing upcoming debt maturities. Over the next 12 months, Artis' revolving and non-revolving credit facilities will mature. We are currently in the process of renewing the first CAD 400 million tranche of the revolving facilities and intend to renew the additional CAD 300 million maturing in Q2 2023. In terms of non-revolving credit facilities, we expect to repay all non-revolving credit facilities with proceeds from new mortgage financings and investment property dispositions. Artis has approximately CAD 550 million of mortgage debt maturing within the next 12 months. We have repaid, renewed, or have extensions in place for 40% of these maturities. 26% of the debt is expected to be extinguished upon disposition of the property or maturity of the loan, and the remaining 34% of the debt will be renewed. Management is currently in discussions with various lenders with respect to the renewal or refinancing of the upcoming maturities, and we look forward to providing progress updates in future quarters. At September 30th, NAV per unit was CAD 19.26, compared to CAD 19.37 reported at June 30th, and an increase from CAD 17.37 reported at December 31st, 2021. The increase from year-end is primarily due to net operating income from equity accounted investments, the impact of foreign exchange, and the impact of units purchased under the normal course issuer bid, partially offset by distributions to unit holders, the fair value loss on financial instruments, and the fair value loss on investment properties during the period. Turning to the next pillar of the strategy, which is driving organic growth, we're pleased to report that our third quarter operational results were positive, especially when considering the current macroeconomic factors that are impacting the broader market and specifically the real estate market. The momentum that we had witnessed in Q2 in terms of activity at our properties with respect to both current tenants and prospective tenants continued into the third quarter. Occupancy, including commitments at September 30th, was 92%, which is consistent with June 30th and continues to be the highest level reported in well over a year. During the third quarter, a notable 1.5 million sq ft of new leases and renewals were negotiated and signed, which speaks to the increase in activity we are seeing across the portfolio. Of this, new leases accounted for almost 1 million sq ft, including new leases completed at properties under development and held in joint venture arrangements which are not captured in our reported occupancy numbers. Renewals accounted for the remaining 500,000 sq ft. With respect to lease deals that commenced during the quarter, there were 262,000 sq ft of new leases and 487,000 sq ft of renewals that began in Q3. The renewals were negotiated at a weighted average rent increase of 3%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of positive growth in weighted average renewal rates. On a year to date basis, we have renewed over 1.1 million sq ft at a weighted average increase of 4.3%. The development projects that we currently have underway are 300 Main, phase two at Blaine 35 and Park Lucero East, which we have a 10% ownership in and a development management contract in place. Park Lucero East and Blaine 35, two industrial projects in the Greater Phoenix area and the Twin Cities area respectively, have generated strong leasing interest to date. We're pleased to announce that Park Lucero East is now fully leased and Blaine 35 phase two is 50% pre-leased, with strong interest from prospective tenants in the remaining space. We anticipate phase two at Blaine 35 will be fully leased upon completion in Q1 2023. We continue to make excellent progress on all of these projects and look forward to having them fully leased in the very near term. Earlier this year, we completed construction of the fifth and final phase of Park 890, a best in class industrial development project totaling 1.8 million sq ft located in the Greater Houston area, Texas. During the third quarter, Artis acquired the remaining 5% interest in Park 890, phase two, which is fully leased and comprises 576,000 sq ft. With this latest acquisition, Artis now owns 100% of the first four phases of the project and has a 95% ownership interest in phase five, which represents the final 674,000 sq ft of Park 890. Finally, the third pillar of our strategy is focusing on value investing by allocating capital to investments that are undervalued with potential to produce above average risk-adjusted returns over the medium to long term. The current market environment presents both challenges and opportunities for Artis. We continue to monitor interest rate trends and forecasts and as mentioned earlier, are in active discussions with lenders working diligently to manage our debt maturity schedule. Conversely, the impact that the rising interest rate environment has had on public markets has presented compelling opportunities that align with our strategy and that have the potential to generate meaningful NAV per unit growth for our owners. We have strong conviction in our strategy and we, alongside our board of trustees, continue to diligently consider all opportunities available to Artis on behalf of its unitholders. With that, I'll turn it back over to the operator to moderate the question and answer session. Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw, please press star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Your first question will come from Jonathan Kelcher of TD Securities. Please go ahead. Hi. Good afternoon. Hi, Jonathan. First question, I guess just on the balance sheet and the mortgages coming due over the next little bit. In your discussions with lenders, how do you think it'll go on the renewals in terms of being able to maybe get more money, or will you have to maybe pay down some of the principal? Just curious on that. I would say overall, Jonathan, the discussions are very positive. We appreciate and continue to have the support of our various lenders across the debt spectrum, whether it's credit facilities, whether it's on the mortgage side. I think in terms of the question, it's really gonna be on a situation by situation basis. For the most part, we are seeing no issues with respect to renewals. In some instances, the opportunity to upward finance. In you know, a couple of instances, this would relate to specific office assets, where there's been perhaps short-term decline in occupancy, the need for a partial pay down. Overall, we would say that the indications are all positive. Okay. Then you're currently, if I calculated this correctly, you're just over half your debt right now is variable rate. I get that you're paying down CAD 400 million of it over the next few months. Could you maybe from a longer-term perspective, sort of let us know how you think about how much variable rate that you should carry or will carry? Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Jonathan. Again, you know, the objective is to look at how we manage our debt structure in the context of our strategy. As we've conveyed previously, because of what I will say or describe as the lumpy nature of some of the transactional work we have, whether it's the value investing side, whether it's the disposition front, you know, we wanna make sure we have flexibility built in. Having said that, we also want to ensure that we move in a direction where, particularly as it relates to what we would describe as core assets that we intend to retain for the long term. We look at now an expanded debt ladder. You know, where we are looking to at the mortgage level or in other situations with respect to our bonds, looking at potential opportunities for building in a more staggered ladder. That's something that we will aim to work towards. As part of that, what's your target on variable versus fixed? I don't think we can provide a specific number, but rest assured, I think the direction is to move towards a lower ratio of variable as it relates to our overall debt structure. Okay. Thanks. I'll turn it back. Your next question comes from Matt Kornack of National Bank Financial. Please go ahead. Hey, guys. With regards to the assets held for sale, I saw that you did dispose of some Minneapolis industrial assets subsequent to quarter end. Can you give us a sense? It sounds like you're fairly confident that you can still transact just on the ability and the timing to transact on the remaining CAD 500 million or so, I think it is. Thanks, Matt. Again, as we've conveyed in our announcement, we anticipate Q4 is gonna be busy with seeing a number of dispositions get to the finish line. That confidence level is something I'll just reiterate on the call here. We look forward to reporting further on those disposition transactions as they become firm and/or cross the finish line. Okay. With regards to pricing, obviously, bond yields have moved. There wasn't much move in IFRS fair value. Presumably, the dispositions that you're currently entertaining are kind of in line with book value. Is that a fair assumption? Yes, it is. Maybe I guess it's a little bit tangential, but with regards to Cominar and what's going on there on the disposition front, that's not in the held for sale, but can you give us a bit of a sense as to how that process is going in terms of realizing the value on that portfolio? Thanks for that question. I would say the headline answer is, things continue to progress really well. As most people know, with real estate, you make money when you buy, and there we have, I would say, bought very well on behalf of our unit holders and in collaboration with our consortium partners. We have a number of dispositions underway, some of which are firm, others are under contract, and some are in the process of being negotiated. Across the board, I can say that we continue to see strong interest from buyers in the market. I think as we're hearing from others who have already reported, and have had their calls with the market, with the analysts, and I will echo what others have conveyed, we are no doubt seeing the volume of buyers coming down. Having said that, you know, the buyers that are continuing to have active engagement, many of them are strategic buyers, many of them are private buyers, who, you know, are not necessarily impacted by the short-term market environment or short-term fluctuations based on the market environment. We're seeing a healthy, active pipeline of activity on the Cominar front. I think the one caveat, you know, within that portfolio, there are two larger assets, Gare Centrale and Place Alexis Nihon. I don't think those will transact in the near term because the nature of the buyers that we believe we would be looking at if we were to transact ever on those assets would be more of an institutional nature. Those would likely be pushed out again if we were to transact on either of those two assets. Everything else in terms of the 81 of the 83 assets that we retained on the completion of that privatization I would with confidence say fits squarely in what I've described. Okay. No, that makes sense. With regards to maybe the destination for some of this capital that you'll be freeing up, it sounds like some will go to debt repayment. How do you think about at this point, clearly the equity markets have been an ugly place for REITs recently, but how do you think about maybe public market opportunities versus, are there starting to be maybe in the U.S. or in certain select areas of Canada, I'm not sure if there's much, but distress where you could possibly take advantage of that by buying fixed assets, or is it purely going to be deleveraging and equity at this point? Again, for us, you know, the idea is to have maximum flexibility so that we, in collaboration with our board's investment committee and our board of trustees, are able to ultimately make what we believe are the best capital allocation decisions possible on behalf of our owners. You've covered nicely, you know, some of the opportunities and areas that we will consider. We will also look forward to renewing our normal course issuer bid in December. Again, you know, when we, alongside many peers, are seeing our unit price trading at the level of discount reflected in the market, we continue to have long-term confidence in our NAV. We have long-term confidence in the portfolio of assets that we own and manage, and we have confidence in our long-term strategy. Based on all of those, you know, we should be able to continue with that flexibility to make sound, prudent decisions with respect to capital allocation. Yeah. No. Fair enough. A last one on the operations side. I know the last quarter you had indicated that AT&T would not be renewing, but you also mentioned that you've done a fair bit of leasing. Has any of that space been addressed at this point in terms of the leasing that you've done? Thanks for the question. We are actively working on it. We have engaged a broker and are putting together plans for the building. The tenant is still in place, so we won't be able to really tour the space until they vacate, which is at the end of February 2023. Actively underway. No deals imminent, but we are positive and optimistic that we'll be able to fill that space once we get an opportunity to access it. Would you say for that type of property that there's probably going to be a fixturing period? If they depart in February, would the expectation be, I guess I'll leave it to you. What would be the downtime in terms of if you signed a tenant now or at the departure, how long would it take to get them in and paying cash rent? Yeah. It's difficult to determine right now, but I think it is fair to say that there would be a period of downtime. Realistically, probably closer to the end of 2023 would we be looking to have a new lease commence. Okay. Perfect. That's helpful. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one at this time. Your next question will come from Jimmy Shan of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Thanks. Hey, guys. On the December credit facilities maturing, is your expectation that you'll renew the CAD 400 million under the same terms? I guess would be one. Then if I understand correctly, there's another CAD 150 million non-revolving facility and that you expect to pay down fully. Is that right? Hi, Jimmy. Yeah, that's correct. We're looking to renew the CAD 400 million, the first tranche at the same term, and we have plans to repay the CAD 150 million non-revolver with some mortgage proceeds and the proceeds from disposition properties. Okay. On the assets held for sale, again, to be clear, your expectation is that the remaining CAD 500 million some odd will get done by the end of the year. I was just curious if you're having to concede at all on any terms and, you know, like, are you having to provide VTB to get the deal done? Maybe just some color around kind of how the negotiation is progressing. I think, Jimmy, we responded to this earlier, but we will reiterate that we are confident that we will see a significant amount of disposition activity in 2024, including transactions that will get over the finish line. Let me just ask you then on just on the equities, obviously, you guys continue to be pretty active. Can you just talk generally about the key criteria that you're using to allocate capital to that bucket? Just given that I think we're in an environment where there seems to be a lot to choose from a value perspective. I'm just trying to get a better understanding on how you decide which, you know, I'm not asking which stock you're buying, but just kind of how you're thinking through that environment. There are a number of factors that are taken into consideration by the investment committee and the board in collaboration with the investment team at Sandpiper. I can tell you that in so far as Artis' investment committee and board first and foremost obviously the actual value analysis and assessment is important. Number two, the levers available to potentially see those value gaps addressed in a reasonable timeframe would be taken into consideration. Number three, the underlying nature of the asset classes within those entities that are being considered that we would line up next to what our existing portfolio at Artis looks like. You know, these are some of the factors that are taken into consideration. You know, that's helpful. Just on that last third point then, you know, as an example, multi-residential will not be one that you'd consider just because it's not an asset that you already have. Is that fair? Certainly at this point in time, that's not on our radar. You know, again, with an agnostic view, when it comes to finding the best opportunities for our unitholders to allocate capital to, I wouldn't say there's any asset class that's off the table longer term, but that's not something that is in consideration currently. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Jimmy. Your next question comes from Steven Sandler, a private investor. Please go ahead. Hi. Artis has been one of the more active companies repurchasing their securities. Do you have any thoughts on the federal government's 2% tax on stock buybacks? Or is there any way you can stop that? Because I think it's more or less an idiotic idea. Steven, thank you very much for raising that and for the question. I think that as much as we like to believe there are areas where we can influence things on our end when it comes to the federal government's tax policies. I think you know we would be in a similar boat to most Canadians where we're at the mercy of those that we elect and then rely on to look after that side of you know the work that the government does on behalf of Canadians. We won't delve further into any sort of political discussions here. Insofar as the actual proposed measures that were presented yesterday, I don't think anyone likes to see new taxes proposed, particularly when it comes to areas such as buybacks. From our vantage point, you know, we'll obviously have to look at what the impact or implication of that additional cost is in assessing buybacks as one form of capital allocation decision-making with our board moving forward. I think the proposed measure doesn't take effect till 2024, but nevertheless, it's something that we, of course, have to be mindful of as we navigate forward. Was there any suggestion as to whether it applied to only common shares, or does it include preferreds, or does anybody know yet? I'm not familiar at this point with any of the details and specifics around the proposed measures. I'm sure there may be others that are aware, and we will rely on and engage with to understand better and/or we will get more clarity as time passes. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from Mario Saric of Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Hi, good afternoon. Hi, Mario. The investment properties held for sale, the consolidated number, CAD 660 million. I may have missed it, but have you disclosed what the associated liabilities with that 660 are? We don't have it included in our current disclosure. I can total that up to you and send it across, Mario. Okay. That'd be helpful. Then I guess as an associated question, I think, Samir, you mentioned the CAD 550 million debt maturity. Over the next twelve months, 26% of it will be sold. That's about CAD 150 million. Is that, like, would that be a fair way to think about the amount of debt that's on that CAD 650 or is that too simplistic? No, that doesn't include the amount of debt included in the CAD 650. Okay, in your negotiations today, how important is in-place debt on the buildings that you're trying to sell? We have not seen this as an issue, whether it's an unencumbered asset or whether it's an asset that has debt attached to it. Most of the dispositions that have mortgage debt we can unwind. In fact, if it's swapped, we actually get paid for that if we're selling the asset unencumbered. Good. Okay. Just maybe, I don't know if you can answer this question or not, but just like broadly speaking, there's been so much volatility in the markets. Where do you see kind of the best risk-adjusted returns today by asset class or by geography, whether it's public or private? It's a really good question. I would say that, you know, I know it's gonna sound cliché, but when you are in an environment like we are in today, where the proverbial baby is being thrown out with the bathwater, I have to believe that, you know, there's generally going to be a gravitation to quality. Where if you can buy quality, you know, relative to lower quality assets or portfolios in the public markets, in the private markets, where the delta that one is looking at is at potentially at historical lows, i.e., for a smaller premium than one would historically have paid, you can upgrade the quality of what you're buying materially. Again, irrespective of asset class, I think that's where, you know, people are gonna find compelling opportunities and certainly where we would be channeling our attention and focus with our board of trustees as we're evaluating, as I mentioned earlier, capital allocation opportunities available to Artis on behalf of our owners. Got it. How would you, like, characterize that spread between, let's say, quality and something else, which is tighter? To paraphrase what you're saying, it's tighter than historical average. How would you characterize that spread today in Canada versus the U.S.? I don't know if I can answer that question from a geographic perspective. In terms of what you're describing, a lot of the public securities investment work we do focuses on Canadian-listed names. We don't personally have as detailed an understanding or granular an understanding of all of the U.S. names across the various real estate asset classes. I know some of them. I don't think what we're describing generally is different. I think you know that scenario I've tried to describe exists on both sides, but I can't quantify what the Canada versus U.S. delta is. Yeah. The genesis of the question is just trying to understand whether, you know, you picked up on something where like the valuation in the U.S. are so much more discounted than in Canada, that it now makes sense to maybe do a bit more work on U.S. securities as opposed to just focusing on Canada. That doesn't sound- Yeah, no, it's a good question. Thanks for clarifying that. I don't think we're there yet. Okay. That's it for me. Thanks everyone. Mario, just to answer your question on the mortgages and held for sale, it's approximately CAD 196 million, just so the group has the number out there. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Mario. There are no further questions from the phone lines, so I will turn the conference back to Heather Nikkel. Please go ahead. Thank you, operator. That wraps up our call for today. Thank you all for joining us, and have a great weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this afternoon. We would like to thank everybody for their participation, and you may now disconnect your lines.