BSR REIT CEO on NYSE Listing, Texas Apartments and Growth Strategy

We're down here on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Moments ago, we saw BSR REIT ring the opening bell. The multifamily-focused real estate investment trust is making its debut here on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BSRT. And it believes that this NYSE listing will help expand its visibility among US investors and support its long-term growth strategy. And importantly, joining me now to talk more about it in his own words is Dan Oberste. He's president and CEO of BSR Real Estate Investment Trust. Dan, welcome.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Congratulations on this listing.

Thank you. It's a big day for us.

What was it like to ring that opening bell?

You know, uh, it felt good. It felt good. I don't think there's any replacement for being in front of the trading floor in New York and opening the market.

It's exciting indeed. Why is now the right time for your company to list on the NYSE?

Oh, uh, for us, it's about alignment. Um, our shareholders, our rent, all of our, all of our investors, really seven out of 10 of our investors are trading in the US. So now is just a great time to align, um, our trading symbols and BSRT on the New York Stock Exchange, um, with, uh, the United States market, make it a little bit easier to buy BSR.

So, to that end, how does this expand your investor base and help you grow the company?

Well, again, alignment, supply and demand. It gives us the opportunity to, uh, it gives our investors the opportunity, an easier job for them to own shares in our company through the New York Stock Exchange where 70% of them are trading in US dollars and our name anyway. Um, and we see the market as somewhat changing. Um, we're on the back side of a supply wave in apartments in the United States. Uh, the future supply or delivery outlook looks thin. So we think it gives our investors an opportunity to get into US multifamily real estate at a discount to private values at exactly the time that the supply concern is ending and we enter into a new path of growth in the sector and hopefully for BSR.

Yeah. You know, I'm interested to hear from you in your own words, what potential investors watching this show should know about the opportunity that your stock presents.

It's a Texas Triangle Real Estate Investment Trust. The apartments we own are situated in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. We're internally managed. The management, the board, the insiders own a ton of shares. We're nimble, we're mobile, we can get behind decisions rather quickly. I think our investors have seen that in the last eight years that we've been public in Toronto. We're still keeping our ticker in Toronto, BSRT.UN, and we think the future's bright for BSR.

What is next for BSR after this NYSE listing?

Uh, we like the market. You know, this is a somewhat of a volatile market, which presents opportunities to play selective offense, uh, for the owner and operator who's maintained their balance sheet and improved their portfolio. In BSR's case, we spent the last eight years drastically improving our portfolio, drastically improving our balance sheet, and we think the market in front of us is a market of selective offense.

We have about 60 seconds left, Dan. What more do you want our viewers to know?

Um, we, again, we are an internally managed, smaller REIT. That gives us the opportunity to be nimble. It means every decision we make meaningfully moves the needle and the performance and the total shareholder return, uh, that our shareholders will experience with us. We have a track record of doing this for nearly a decade in the Toronto markets, and we're really excited to honor our promise to our investors, to earn their investment, and to generate, um, the highest total shareholder return we can possibly generate with this balance sheet.

Well, congratulations again. We saw you on that opening bell podium. We heard the first trade bell here at the New York Stock Exchange. That's Dan Oberste. He's president and CEO of BSR Real Estate Investment Trust. We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yeah.