Weekly Regional Business Intelligence | | | Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | | | Sifton divests retirement properties portfolio in $432M deal with Chartwell Sifton Properties is selling its six senior living properties to Mississauga-based Chartwell Retirement Residences. The $432-million transaction will include three sites in London (Riverstone, Richmond Woods and Longworth), Dorchester Terrace, Westhill in Waterloo and Erinview in Mississauga, for a total of 1,024 suites (the sale price represents roughly $422,000 per suite). “This acquisition represents a significant strategic expansion for Chartwell in Southwestern Ontario, one of Canada’s most dynamic and growing seniors housing markets,” said Chartwell’s chief investment officer Jonathan Boulakia. “These communities not only enhance our portfolio with modern, purpose-built assets, but also provide a clear pathway for sustainable growth through asset optimization and targeted development opportunities.” Closing is expected in Q4 2025. The upshot: Chartwell has been on an acquisition tear over the last couple of years. During the past 15 months alone, it has acquired over $1.5 billion in new seniors living properties across Canada and is also advancing several development sites. One of the largest seniors living operators in Canada, it currently owns and operates over 170 facilities serving approximately 25,000 residents in four provinces across the country. The company’s CEO, Vlad Volodarski, said the Sifton portfolio represented a “great addition” for Chartwell, and added, “We did not have a lot of presence in the London market in particular, and this portfolio gave us the opportunity to expand there.” Read more: BNN Bloomberg | Real Estate News Exchange | | | Libro announces plans to merge with Kawartha Credit Union London’s Libro Credit Union announced this week it is in talks with Peterborough-based Kawartha Credit Union on a potential merger. The two parties said they completed due diligence processes earlier this year, and plan to submit a merger proposal to the provincial regulator next month. If approved, a vote will be put to the 178,000 members in the fall, with the goal of officially launching the merged operation in 2026. “The boards of both credit unions believe this merger is in the best interests of members/owners, employees, communities and the credit union,” said Libro’s board chair Garrett Vanderwyst. “By coming together, we can scale and be better prepared for the future, while at the same time maintain the benefits and advantages of a community-focused credit union.” Kawartha Credit Union’s chair Allison Chenier added that “by coming together, the merged credit union will focus on providing the products, services and advice our member/owners need, while continuing to invest in our local communities.” The upshot: Consolidation has certainly been a trend over the last decade in the credit union sector, and Libro is no stranger to mergers ― over its 75-year history it has brought more than 40 different smaller credit unions into the fold. The two parties said they have no plans to change the names of the operations, though. “Members will continue to work with the same familiar faces they are used to working with in our branches,” the companies said on an information website to pitch the merger to members, adding that they “will continue to operate in their respective regions for the foreseeable future, so you will still see the credit union name you recognize.” The combined credit union would have around $11 billion in assets, likely putting it within the top ten Canadian credit unions by assets and members. Read more: Libro Credit Union | KawarthaNow | | | Cadillac Fairview “resolutely opposed” to selling HBC leases to Central Walk British Columbia-based Chinese billionaire Ruby Liu is facing mounting resistance in her effort to acquire 25 former Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) leases — including Masonville Place in London — as Cadillac Fairview (CF) has formally objected to the proposed transaction in court filings this week. Liu and her company, Central Walk, had previously secured court approval to purchase three HBC leaseholds for $2 million each through her firm, Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corp., a subsidiary of Central Walk. That approval was granted after Liu obtained landlord consent — a procedural formality, given that the properties involved were already owned by Central Walk. However, her pursuit of the remaining 25 leases is proving more complicated. Court documents indicate widespread opposition from landlords, although Cadillac Fairview, which is a wholly owned real estate subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and one of the largest owners and operators of large regional malls in Canada, is the only one to have publicly voiced its objection. “CF remains resolutely opposed to the assignment of the former HBC leases to Central Walk/Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corp.,” the company said in its filing. “The Central Walk Transaction will cause serious material prejudice to CF and other similarly situated Landlords. If approved, the Central Walk Transaction would potentially lock the Landlords into multi-decade tenancies with an untested anchor tenant and a deeply flawed retail concept at 25 locations across Canada.” The upshot: Supposedly, Liu’s big aim here is to acquire the remaining 25 former Hudson’s Bay and Saks locations and repurpose them into an experiential department store-style format branded under her own name. To date, the list of 25 leases and the landlords have not been made public, but Cadillac Fairview’s filing confirms at least some of the leases pertaining to its shopping centres are included in the proposed transaction. According to court documents, Cadillac Fairview had 14 leases with HBC, including Masonville Place in London. According to CF, they met with Liu on June 2, but Liu failed to present a business plan and has not provided anything more than a brief letter. “Almost everything CF has learned about the Purchaser’s proposed plans for the former HBC leases has come through the press and social media,” said Cadillac Fairview. “If the Applicants wish to pursue this motion, they must provide their case diligently to allow a fair response. They have not.” Read more: Daily Hive | | | Council approves basket of big proposals Council’s main summer session was a busy one this week, with politicians approving at least three major, and at times controversial, proposals. The first was one we brought you last week ― Southside Construction’s proposal to build 4,000 residential units on Pack Road in the southwest. Council was divided on that, voting nine-to-five to approve, with both the local councillor and other west-end representatives, like Councillor Corrine Rahman, voting against the proposal. Council also voted 14-to-one to approve the location of the new $187-million Emergency Services Campus (a new police and firefighter training centre) at 3243 Manning Drive. And it voted 13-to-two to revive the Affordable Homeownership Program, which aims to extend interest-free loans to lower-income homeowners; this program survived a push by Councillor Susan Stevenson to see funds redirected to other programs, including shelter funding, although staff advised that the money was only able to be used for affordable housing programs. The upshot: A flurry of approvals in the summer council session is not all that unusual, though this particular batch may prove to be consequential down the line. The Pack Road proposal is, as councillors have noted, a drastic reshaping of that part of the city, and questions have been raised about infrastructure and service levels not being able to keep up — Rahman pointed out that the northwest, like the southwest, has been burned in the past by assurance that services (like transit) would be figured out later. On the Emergency Services Campus question, procedural hawk Councillor Sam Trosow was the lone objection, noting that police were not allowing council to see a full feasibility study, with the mayor saying it contained information about the “vulnerabilities” of the police service, and staff telling council that the study was still being updated by consultants. We’ll have to wait and see whether this will have any long-term impact on the $187-million price tag for the project. And finally, the affordable housing loan program will make London one of the first cities to explore, even on this limited scale, the idea of directly subsidizing down payments to boost home sales. Read more: CBC News London | | | CFIB report on auto sector tariffs: support programs overlook SMEs The tariff war between Canada and the U.S. is starting to bite into Ontario’s auto sector, with the province potentially missing out on as much as $2.89 billion in investment over the next year, according to a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB). The report, published this month, surveyed 500 SMEs in the auto sector and found that 49 per cent of businesses have cancelled investments, while the average revenue decline this year is around 13 per cent. “Right now, businesses are just focused on keeping the doors open. They’re trying to re-navigate their supply chains to Canadian suppliers or other countries than the U.S.,” said Joseph Falzata, the report’s author. “It’s expensive to do that. Businesses said they plan to pass on most if not all those additional costs to consumers.” Still the report suggests that businesses are actively pivoting. Three in five said they feel confident in their ability to manage further disruption, while around 30 per cent of businesses are already diversifying their supply chains away from the U.S., turning to a mix of domestic and international suppliers. The upshot: It certainly isn’t a surprise to see this kind of impact, especially on the smaller businesses which are often overlooked or spoken of in general terms, with much of the focus on big operations (CAMI, Honda, Stellantis, etc.). One thing the report highlights, however, is the serious hit to domestic demand, which is doing about as much damage to those selling finished products. “Customers can’t afford regular priced items anymore. Their dollar doesn’t stretch. Income hasn’t gone up, but prices have,” said one CFIB member quoted in the survey. “Economic slowdowns and uncertainty are pushing more people to repair, rather than replace, vehicles.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a CFIB report were there not some attempt to lobby the government on some kind of policy change. Here, the CFIB says that many of its members would like to see the tax rate cut from 3.2 per cent to two per cent, and adjustments made to revenue threshold, with less enthusiasm for big relief programs. “While these programs were created with good intentions, the reality is that many small business owners have never heard of them and are not eligible,” said Falzata. “The Ontario government needs to focus their efforts not just on the major auto manufacturers, but also on the many small businesses that feed into the province’s auto eco-system.” Read more: CFIB | Canadian Auto Dealer | | | Western awarded $31.6M in federal research money Western University is set to receive a nice chunk of federal research money ― $31.6 million in federal grants, the school announced this week. The money spans a wide range of faculties. The largest was a $2.5 million grant for Dr. Isaac Luginaah, a professor in the geography department, who is spearheading a research program on climate-resistant farming practices in Africa; he said that the funding will help support “over 90 researchers at the masters, PhD or postdoctoral level.” London Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos said that “whether it’s novel treatment for a devastating disease, new material or techniques to support Canadian industries, or fresh ideas to help those in vulnerable regions fight climate change, this work benefits us all. I’m pleased that such significant federal funding will support research — and all its future potential — right here in our community.” The upshot: Western highlighted one grant award, to electrical and computer engineering professor Rajni Patel, that might be of some interest to the innovation economy. He was awarded $270,000 to work on surgical robotics, in an area he called soft robotics. “This is an incredibly exciting time for robotics research,” Patel said. “We’re developing intelligent systems that can adapt, learn and augment human performance in reliable new ways. It’s rewarding to know this work could help shape the future of surgical technology and improve outcomes for patients.” We’ve seen some interesting medtech coming out of the region lately, including Vessl Prosthetics, Deep Breathe’s AI-powered imaging tech and Front Line Medical Technologies’ COBRA-OS device. “Federal investments in research enable made-in-Canada solutions that will help shape a better future for all,” said Western’s VP of research, Penny Pexman. Read more: Western News | | | Dispatch: July 25, 2025 A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week. View listings here | | | | |