StorageVault Uses Stock to Buy Self-Storage Facility in Alberta, Canada

Update 10/20/16 – StorageVault has closed on its self-storage acquisition in Calgary. The 12.5 million common shares issued as part of the deal have a hold period that expires on Feb. 18. The asset will be the sixth StorageVault location in Alberta, not the fifth as previously reported.

In conjunction with the closing, Access executed a four-year lease on the property and subsequently entered into a share-conveyance agreement with the seller instead of its previously announced intent for purchase options and financing, according to a press release. Under the new structure, Access purchased 10.5 million of the shares issued to the seller as part of the StorageVault acquisition for $8.4 million. The remaining 2 million shares were sold to an unidentified third party, with an option for the seller to rebuy. Access will have the first right to purchase those shares if the seller re-acquires them.

Access now owns more than 73.5 million shares of StorageVault representing 27.81 percent of the operator’s total issued and outstanding common shares, the release stated.

7/11/16 – Canadian self-storage operator StorageVault Canada Inc. has agreed to buy a facility in Calgary, Alberta, for $22 million. As part of the deal, the unidentified seller will accept 12.5 million shares of StorageVault stock at 80 cents per share. StorageVault will also assume the property’s $12 million mortgage, according to a press release.

"This transaction is unique in that we are purchasing from a motivated vendor who is taking $10 million of the purchase price in StorageVault stock at $0.80 cents. It is a premium asset in a top-five city in Canada, which is partially opened and in lease-up," said Steven Scott, CEO.

The deal, expected to close by Aug. 31, also involves Canadian self-storage operator Access Self Storage Inc., which is a “major shareholder” of StorageVault, the release stated. "Since StorageVault is in the business of acquiring mature cash-flowing assets, Access Self Storage will step in to mitigate the development and lease-up risk,” Scott said. “To remove the development risk, Access will provide the construction financing needed to complete the project and will oversee the construction.”

In addition, Access will sign a four-year lease to run the facility and receive an option to later acquire the property, according to the release.

The property will be the fifth StorageVault location in Alberta.

StorageVault also recently closed on the acquisition of a facility in Vernon, British Columbia, for $8.24 million. The company has purchased two other facilities since the beginning of the year, including a 66,000-square-foot Winnipeg Mini Storage property. The operator is also expected to close on two Ontario storage facilities in August for $3.3 million, according to a source.

Access Storage operates about 75 self-storage facilities comprising more than 4 million square feet and more than 1,000 portable-storage containers. It owns facilities in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, with its Quebec locations branded as Depotium Mini-Entrepot, according to the company website.

StorageVault operates several self-storage facilities and more than 3,200 portable-storage units in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.