Gotlib, Orbach Launch REIT IPO in Canada

A new residential REIT focused on Manhattan luxury apartments has hit the public markets — in Canada.

GO Residential Real Estate Investment Trust priced its US$410 million initial public offering this week and began trading Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GO.U, Bloomberg reported. The REIT plans to use the proceeds to acquire a portfolio of luxury high-rise apartment buildings in New York.

The offering, Canada’s largest IPO of the year so far, included 27.34 million units priced at $15 apiece and was heavily oversubscribed. Roughly 85 percent of the shares went to institutional investors, with Canadian buyers comprising about 60 percent of the pool.

Chairman Meyer Orbach, the CEO of the Orbach Group and a minority stakeholder in the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, is steering the vehicle alongside CEO Joshua Gotlib, the former head of Manhattan-based real estate investment firm Black Spruce.

The REIT’s initial holdings include a five-property portfolio, the most prominent being the 761-unit Copper Apartments, formerly the American Copper Buildings, which Gotlib and Orbach purchased in 2022 for $837 million. The other properties in the portfolio include a 408-unit building at 685 First Avenue, the 403-unit building at 1 East River Place and One and Two Sutton Place, which have 433 units.

GO Residential expects to begin monthly distributions Sept. 15, targeting an annual yield of 4.26 percent, according to the preliminary prospectus.

The REIT is forecasting $10.3 million in net income on $174.4 million in revenue for the 12-month period ending June 2026. Prior to the acquisition of its New York portfolio, GO reported $32.4 million in net property income on $38.3 million in revenue in the first quarter.

The IPO was led by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal, with additional backing from Bank of America, RBC, Scotiabank and others.

The deal marks just the second corporate IPO to crack the $50 million mark in Canada since 2023, following last year’s $215 million offering by retailer Groupe Dynamite Inc.

— Judah Duke