A Family Office Built on Family Values

From humble beginnings…

We are a Winnipeg-based, family-owned, privately held real estate acquisition and holding company founded on our family values.

Our roots began when our Chairman, an entrepreneurially-driven tradesman, established operations in the 1960s and 70s in roofing, drywall contracting, and construction materials distribution. In the mid 1990s he began to diversify with the acquisition of three multi-tenant properties. In 2002, our President came on board and established a vision to focus on and grow our real estate holdings while our chair divested of the construction-related operating companies. Since 2002 we have grown from four properties totalling 115,000 square feet to our current portfolio of over 1 million square feet. In addition to our wholly-owned portfolio, we are a partner in GMW Properties Ltd., a portfolio of 12 properties in Western Canada, which we have asset managed since 2004 and in which we have had ownership since the 1980s. In 2005 we diversified our investment base with an entry into private equity by seeking to become capital partners in private operating companies with director-level involvement supporting our operating partners. Today our private equity holdings consist of significant holdings in two Manitoba-based food processors serving the Canadian market from coast to coast.

We are proud of the real estate portfolio we have acquired and developed using our experience in real estate and finance combined with our years of construction knowledge. Our small office structure, with a focus on acquisition and asset management, allows us to make decisions quickly and efficiently. We are proud of how our work and our investments have benefited our communities and economy through growth in employment and of the tax base and of our support for local charities, which represent an investment in our community and the people in it, including the Manitoba Children’s Museum, Assiniboine Park Zoo, Variety Club of Manitoba, West Broadway Youth Outreach, and Habitat for Humanity.

Like the majority of our tenants, we are a for-profit enterprise. While we do aim to make sound, profitable investment decisions, our deal making is not predicated on a winner-take-all mindset where a pie simply gets divided. We seek outcomes that are beneficial for all parties in a deal, which we believe will help grow the pie larger. It’s a mindset of value-creation.

When it comes to deals, it’s not about how much we can take, it’s about what we can make, together.