Dream President Sees US Housing Deals in Future After Bumpy IPO

The head of one of Canada's largest publicly traded developers said he sees the potential for acquisitions in the US housing market through a new apartment company.

Dream Residential Real Estate Investment Trust was taken public in Toronto by Michael Cooper in early May, raising $125 million despite a selloff in the stock market. Cooper said he was glad to complete the deal and that the company could become a vehicle to buy US apartments as the economy improves.

Cooper said in an interview that market acceptance is needed to get growing. It was great to get it done in a market like that. We want to grow it as people get more comfortable and we get the results out. That is the reason we went public.

Dream Residential manages more than 3000 units in the US Midwest and Sun Belt states. Cooper is betting that strong demand for rentals will increase the apartment owner's share price.

Dream Residential is a company that Dream Unlimited is a major shareholder of. This year has seen the first corporate IPO of more than C$150 million to list on a Canadian exchange.

Cooper said that if he had to name it, it would be ugly win. The entire year is going to be ugly. It will be difficult to be elegant and beautiful.