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The Merge of Trizec and HorshamThe real estate industry has been hit hard in the 1990 s. Many companies havebeen struggling to maintain their position in a rapidly decreasing real estate market. Thelargest Canadian based real estate company to experience an accumulation of debts is, theonce Calgary based, Trizec Corporations.1 Trizec Corporations is experiencing over 600million dollars worth of outstanding debts and was near bankruptcy until the Torontobased investment group, Horsham Incorporated, invested 600 million dollars in return for43% of the company in 1994.2 The merge between Trizec Corporations and HorshamIncorporated would benefit both companies and propel these two companies into futureEuropean projects. Trizec Corporations was established in 1960 in Calgary, Alberta. Now, under thecontrol of Gregory Wilkins, Trizec is the countries largest publicly traded real estategroup.3 Their assets consist of 85 properties world wide, including Place Ville Marie inMontreal and the U.S. based Hahn Company.4Horsham Incorporated is led by Peter Munk who owns 10% of the equity and 80%of votes through ownership of multiple voting shares. Horsham Incorporated has assetsincluding Clark Refining and Marketing Incorporated, 20% of American Barrick and realestate in Berlin.5The proposal in 1994 had Horsham paying 500 million dollars to receive a portionof the debt that is convertible to common shares and then another 100 million dollars foradditional equity. The deal put a total value of 1.2 billion dollars into debt andoutstanding equity in Trizec.6 Horsham now owns 48% of Trizec and is trying to acquire52% which was recently approved by the boards of both companies. The new companyconsisting of these two groups will be renamed Trizec Hahn Corporation.7Both companies feel that the merge would benefit their future expansions becauseby investment from an outside source Trizec would be able to improve their position inthe real estate market. The deal would also allow Trizec to keep their management incontrol. Horsham believes that an investment in the largest real estate market in Canadawould initiate an attempt to salvage the real estate market.8The merge of these two companies would also allow both Horsham and Trizec tobecome more accessible to the European market. Horsham is using Trizec s real estateadvantage to expand in retail and commercial industries in Germany, Hungary, andCentral Europe. The major project that Horsham is now involved in is in Ludwigsfelde,
Germany. If successful Horsham will own the first outlet mall to receive endorsementfrom a member of the royal family. Prince Charles will invest in the Horsham project inorder to improve the urban environment of Germany. Trizec is using the Europeanconnections of Horsham to propel themselves into the real estate market of Europe. Trizec has already been working with Polus Investments Ltd. of Budapest, therefore, thetwo companies are planning on working independently on their initial projects in Europe.9Trizec Corporations and Horsham Incorporation are now working together andhave expanded into Europe. A once struggling Trizec has now been saved by Horshamand is ready to re-establish themselves in the Canadian real estate market. Trizec HahnCo. has now become the company that will lead the global real estate market into the nextmillennium. Endnotes1Kimberley Noble, “Horsham Throws Trizec a Lifeline,” The Globe and Mail,29 March 1994, sec.B, p. 1,14. 2Kimberley Noble, “Horsham Throws Trizec a Lifeline,” The Globe and Mail,29 March 1994, sec B, p. 1,14. 3Alan Freeman, “Horsham Properties Brings Royal Touch to German Project,”The Globe and Mail, 4 October 1996, sec B, p. 1,12. 4John Meyer, Trizec- A Tradition of Excellence (Calgary: Corporate and Public Relations, 1985), 11. 5Kimberley Noble, “Horsham Throws Trizec a Lifeline,” The Globe and Mail,29 March 1994, sec B, p. 1,14. 6Kimberley Noble, “Horsham Throws Trizec a Lifeline,” The Globe and Mail,29 March 1994, sec B, p. 1,14. 7″Horsham Offer for 52% of Trizec Approved,” The Globe and Mail,30 September 1996, sec B, p. 10. 8Kimberley Noble, “Horsham Throws Trizec a Lifeline,” The Globe and Mail,29 March 1994, sec B, p. 1,14. 9Alan Freeman, “Horsham Properties Bring Royal Touch to German Projects,”The Globe and Mail, 4 October 1996, sec B, p. 1,12. BibliographyFreeman, Alan. (1996, October 4). Horsham Properties bring royal touch to German project. The Globe and Mail, sec. B, p.1,12. Horsham offer for 52% of Trizec approved. (1996, September 30). The Globe and Mail, 10. Meyer, John. (1985). Trizec-A Tradition of Excellence. Calgary: Corporate and Public Relations. Noble, Kimberley. (1994, March 29). Horsham throws Trizec a lifeline. The Globe and Mail, sec. B, p. 1,15. Robertson, Hugh. (1995). The Research Essay. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.