Independent Trustees of Partners Real Estate Investment Trust Quantify Savings of Proposed Internalization and Urge Unitholders to Vote BLUE Proxy to Internalize Management

TORONTO, May 28, 2013 /CNW/ - Partners Real Estate Investment (Partners) (TSX: PAR.UN) is urging unitholders to re-elect the current independent trustees and vote their BLUE proxy to internalize management for the best interest of all unitholders.

Ahead of Partners' annual meeting on June 6, 2013, Partners' independent trustees have further outlined in a recent letter to unitholders the reasons for internalization, including quantifying the cost savings to be realized by internalizing management now and citing conflicts of interest that the recently terminated External Manager continues to engage in.

The letter explains the effective role the current independent trustees have played in Partners' success and lets unitholders know that they can pay $2.1 million now to internalize management or continue to pay the External Manager a total of $34 million over the next five years, including $8 million then, to internalize management. The Independent Trustees believe that the best way to protect Partners is to internalize management now and bring in a strong, devoted, credible internalized management team that will protect unitholder capital.

Partners lists the following benefits of internalizing management:

• Having a high quality management team focused ONLY on enhancing unit value;
• Improved management and governance of Partners;
• Elimination of  the many conflicts of interest between the External Manager and Partners; and
• Reducing the cost of managing the REIT.

Attention Partners Unitholders:

Partners unitholders are urged to protect their investment by voting the BLUE proxy. The voting deadline is 2:30pm (Toronto time) on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.

If you have voted a gold proxy, you can still change your vote, simply by voting your BLUE proxy today.  Your subsequent later dated BLUE proxy will replace any prior dated gold proxy you may have voted. The full text of the letter can be found on www.sedar.com.

Unitholders who do not have a BLUE proxy or who have questions about voting their proxy for the upcoming meeting of unitholders should contact Kingsdale Shareholder Services Inc. toll-free at 1-888-518-1565 or [email protected].

About Partners REIT

Partners REIT is a growth-oriented real estate investment trust, which currently owns (directly or indirectly) thirty-eight retail properties, well-located in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, aggregating approximately 2.7 million square feet of leasable space. Partners REIT focuses on expanding and managing a portfolio of retail and mixed-use community and neighbourhood shopping centres located in both primary and secondary markets across Canada.

SOURCE: Partners REIT

Contacts:

David Mills
Mills Investor Relations
416-805-7721

Grant Hughes, Senior Vice President, Operations
Kingsdale Shareholder Services Inc.
416-867-2431