The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Jan. 10, edition that evidently, apartment REIT valuations have fallen to levels that some large investors find attractive. The Globe's John Heinzl writes that last week, Minto Apartment REIT agreed to be taken private for $18 per unit, or $2.3-billion, including debt, representing a 32-per-cent premium to the market price before the deal was announced. Crestpoint Real Estate Investments LP will own 50.1 per cent of the REIT, while Minto Group, which is controlled by the founding Greenberg family, will own 49.9 per cent. This followed a deal announced last May that will see fellow apartment owner InterRent REIT taken private by its executive chair, Mike McGahan, with the financial backing of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. "We would hope that this being the second [Canadian] apartment privatization should provide further evidence of the fairly large disconnect in valuation observed between public and private markets," said Jimmy Shan, an analyst with RBC Dominion Securities, in a note following the Minto privatization announcement.