05:12 PM EDT, 06/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAR-UN.TO) said after trade Wednesday it sold its remaining equity interest in Irish Residential Properties REIT.

During the first quarter of 2024,, the trust noted, CAPREIT sold IRES shares for aggregate proceeds of approximately $58 million, which reduced its ownership from 18.7% to 11.3% as of March 31, 2024. During the second quarter of 2024, CAPREIT sold a further $81 million of equity in IRES, and completely disposed of its ownership.

CAPREIT said it intends to use the proceeds from the divestment to repay amounts drawn on its Canadian credit facility, to repurchase CAPREIT units at a discount to net asset value under its normal course issuer bid program, to acquire strategically aligned properties and for other general business purposes.

"Completing this sale has simplified our balance sheet and provides CAPREIT's unitholders with the ability to make their own capital allocation decisions as it relates to investing in IRES," said Julian Schonfeldt, Chief Investment Officer at CAPREIT. "In doing so, we've also freed up capital that we intend to redeploy into our core apartment business in Canada, which is where we're able to drive maximum value for our unitholders."

CAPREIT closed down $0.23 at $43.00 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.