Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust

Welcome to the Dream Industrial REIT first quarter conference call for Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Please be advised that all participants are currently in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the queue, you may press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Since you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star then zero. During this call, management of Dream Industrial REIT may make statements containing forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Dream Industrial REIT's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information about these assumptions, risks, and uncertainties is contained in Dream Industrial REITs filings with securities regulators, including its latest annual information form and MDA. These filings are also available on Dream Industrial REIT's website at www.dreamindustrialreit.ca. Your host for today will be Mr. Alexander Sanikov, CEO of Dream Industrial REIT. Mr. Sanikov, please proceed.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Dream Industrial REIT's first quarter 2026 conference call. Here with me today is Gord Wadley, our Chief Operating Officer, and Lennis Kwon, our Chief Financial Officer. We started off 2026 with strong momentum and we saw that reflected in our solid operating and financial results. While geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions persist, the industrial sector continues to demonstrate broad resilience and the execution on our core pillars is translating into tangible results across the business. The occupier markets in Canada are strengthening, and we are seeing continued absorption not only for small and mid-bay units, which we have observed for some time, but also more recently in large bay format. We're also encouraged by the activity in the European portfolio and are seeing robust occupier dynamics for infill mid-bay assets and multi-tenant light industrial properties. These occupier dynamics inform our operating results as well as our capital allocation decisions. For the quarter, we delivered 9% year-over-year comparative properties NOI growth, driven by healthy leasing activity, leasing spreads, strong occupancy, and tenant retention. This strong pace of organic growth drove FFO to $0.26 per unit in line with our expectations and outlook we communicated last quarter. Most notably, our FFO per unit continued to grow year over year, even though we completed the disposition of the first tranche of assets to the DCI JV and used the proceeds to temporarily pay down debt. This gives us the opportunity to redeploy the capital towards our strategic growth initiatives. We are on track with the capital allocation plan we outlined at the beginning of the year. So far this year, we have returned nearly $100 million of capital to unit holders, through NCIB activity. This activity is consistent with the targets we communicated when we announced the formation of the DCI-JV. We also have a robust pipeline of acquisitions for DIRs on balance sheet program, with over 500 million of opportunities in Canada and in Europe in exclusive negotiations and in various stages of due diligence. Over 85% of this pipeline is comprised of income-producing assets with a going-in cap rate of just over 6% and a mark-to-market cap rate of over 7%. We're also evaluating adding compelling development opportunities in our target markets for small and mid-bay industrial assets at yield-on cost of just under 8%. Our existing development program is progressing well. This quarter, we achieved substantial completion, over a 125,000 square foot built-to-suit expansion in the Netherlands, that is already contributing over $1.7 million of NOI on annualized run rate basis. Our strategic private venture segment continues to provide us with a competitive edge, supporting the growth of our operating platform and revenue growth. So far this year, we closed on approximately $130 million of acquisitions within our private JVs, including DCI JVs first acquisition beyond the initial portfolio. We have another $250 million of acquisitions in exclusive negotiations for the account of our private ventures. Lastly, our power procurement program is also advancing. Our solar portfolio is expanding with multiple projects under construction, including a pilot project that includes a battery storage solution. Our near to medium term pipeline stands at over $140 million, with a target yield on cost of over 8%. On the data center initiative, we are in advanced stages of securing commitments on over 260 megawatts of power in the GTA with phased delivery over the next two to five years. Concurrently, we're exploring opportunities to realize this progress on power procurement through joint ventures, development, or dispositions. Put together, we are encouraged by the progress we are making across the key drivers of the business. With that, I will now turn it over to Gort to discuss our operational highlights.

Thank you, Alex. Stepping back, we continue to see the Canadian industrial market hold up well from a macro perspective. While uncertainty has extended decision-making timelines in pockets of the market, Dream Industrial continues to perform well as demand for well-located, functional urban logistics spaces remains resilient and the new supply pipeline continues to moderate. On occupancy, we saw a meaningful improvement in Canada. Committed occupancy was 96.8%, up from 94.4% a year ago, driven by small bay lease-up and recent development completions. Overall, committed occupancy across the total portfolio was 95.7%. Against that backdrop, we are encouraged by the operating results. We signed 1.8 million square feet of new leases and renewals, delivering a weighted average rental spread of 26.4% over expiring rents. The regional mix was approximately 1.4 million square feet in Canada at 33.1% average spreads and about 400,000 square feet in Europe. In Toronto and the broader GTA, demand continues to be the most pronounced for well-located functional space, particularly in small and mid-bay. As Alex mentioned, over the past couple of quarters, we've seen meaningful absorption of larger units. Based on the pipeline we see, we expect this trend to continue in 2026. The improvement in absorption and the pace of leasing activity is resulting in stable to improving net effective rents and a shrinking gap between achieved rents and asking rents. In our portfolio, we saw healthy retention and strong mark to market on near-term rollover. and leasing economics remained disciplined with stable incentives. Ontario comparative properties NOI grew 6.8% year-over-year. Fundamentals in Western Canada are robust with low vacancies, solid demand, and demographic trends. We're observing continued rental growth. With our Balzac 20 development coming online and the lease up of several vacancies in Calgary, we transacted approximately half a million square feet across our platform during the quarter and saw 100 basis point lift in occupancy. Western Canada comparative properties NOI grew 8.5% year over year. In Montreal, the market ultimately fared better than most expectations. While asking rents have moved down across the market, our achieved rents have remained higher, reflecting the quality and location of our portfolio and strong demand for well-functioning space. With the lease-up of small bay vacancies, our Quebec occupancy improved, and Quebec comparative properties NOI increased 31.1% year-over-year. Looking ahead, our leasing pipeline in Canada remains healthy. We have over a dozen new deals and advanced negotiations totaling over 700,000 square feet. Decision-making timelines are longer than average, but our customers and prospective occupiers are showing resiliency and remain committed to their space requirements despite geopolitical uncertainty Many of them are expanding organically and renewing to longer-term commitments in advance of the expiry. Further evidence of this is that we had 1.9 million square feet of remaining uncommitted expiries in 2026 as of Q1. We've already secured approximately half a million square feet at an average spread of 38.2%, and we are at advanced renewal discussions on the balance. We expect that the retention ratio for the year will be consistent with our long-term average. we expect leasing spreads on our remaining 2026 rollovers in Canada to be in line with our Q1 results. Over in Europe, the industrial sector remains supported by durable structural demand drivers. As inflation is likely to ramp up, our portfolio remains relatively insulated as the majority of our leases are in-text to CPI. At the portfolio level, European occupancy was modestly impacted this quarter, due to the acquisition of a vacant value-add asset in the Netherlands, which had approximately 80 basis point impact. We acquired this asset for its prime location and strong physical attributes and see meaningful value creation potential through planned upgrades, with lease-up expected by the end of the year and a stabilized cap rate of approximately 8%. Committed occupancy in Europe was 95% this quarter, and overall performance remain consistent with our expectations, with 4.9% comparative properties NOI growth. Over the next few quarters, we expect to see some transitory vacancies in Spain. However, given the underlying strength of the market, we're confident in releasing prospects. Overall, our occupancy and NOI outlook for the business remain intact. Thank you, and I will now turn it over to Lennis to discuss our financial highlights.

Thank you, Gord. Our portfolio delivered comparative properties NOI growth of 9% for the quarter. The strong pace of organic growth allowed us to absorb a higher average cost of debt and to operate at lower leverage following the first tranche of asset sales to the DCI-JV, while continuing to deliver FFO growth. We delivered diluted FFO per unit of $0.26 for the first quarter, 2% higher than the prior year quarter. In addition, the lease-up of newly completed developments and property management income generated from our private ventures platform also contributed to our overall FFO growth. Our net asset value at quarter end was $16.76 per unit up from $16.60 last quarter, reflecting stable investment property values and the impact of our NCIB activity. The proceeds from the first tranche of asset sales to the DCI venture in early February were used to repay most of the outstanding balance on our credit facility. Consistent with the capital redeployment plan that we communicated in late 2025, we have completed $97.2 million of unit buybacks through our NCIV program to date in 2026 at an average price of $12.95 per unit. We expect the second tranche of asset sales to the DCI venture to close mid-2026, with proceeds used to temporarily repay our credit facility until it is redeployed accretively. We continue to actively pursue financing initiatives to optimize our cost of debt and maintain a strong and flexible balance sheet with ample liquidity. We ended the quarter with leverage at 36.8%. which was 160 basis points lower than year end 2025. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio was 7.3 times. As we deploy our available balance sheet capacity, we expect leverage to remain in the targeted mid to high 30% range and our net debt to EBITDA on a run rate basis to trend back towards the mid seven times range. Subsequent to the quarter, We repaid our $200 million Series E debentures that matured on April 13, 2026 by temporarily drawing on our credit facility. On April 21, we closed on the issuance of our $200 million Series H unsecured debentures at an all-in rate of 4% after swapping the proceeds to Euros. The proceeds were used to repay the outstanding balance on our credit facility. We retain over $600 million in total available liquidity Combined with the growing cash flow generated by the business, we are well positioned to fund our strategic initiatives, including our development pipeline, power procurement program, and contributing to our private ventures. Our first quarter performance demonstrates the strength of our business, and we remain confident in our growth trajectory for the balance of the year. We reiterate our previously issued outlook across our key metrics, which, as a reminder, were, for the full year 2026, average in-place occupancy stable in the high 94 to low 96% range. For the first half of 2026, comparative properties NOI growth relatively consistent with our Q4 2025 growth rate. For the full year, dependent on the timing of leasing, 2026 comparative properties NOI growth stronger than full year 2025 growth, which was 5.7%. and full year 2026 FFO per unit between $1.08 to $1.10. With the deployment of proceeds from the second tranche sale to the DCI venture expected to be weighted towards the middle and second half of this year, we expect our quarterly FFO per unit run rate to accelerate accordingly. Our FFO growth expectation is predicated on current foreign exchange rates and interest rate expectations. I will turn it back to Alex to wrap up.

Thank you, Linus. Dream Industrial's business is anchored by a functional, high-quality urban portfolio supported by a diverse occupier base and increasingly meaningful new revenue streams. Together with the scale of our operating platform, this positions the business well for continued growth, and we expect to continue delivering strong results for our unit holders. We will now open it up for questions.

Your first question comes from the line of Mark Rothschild from Cancord Genuity. Your line is live.

Thanks. Good morning. Alex, you made some comments about being encouraged by some things in Europe. Can we just talk about what's driving that improvement, and do you think that that's something we should see in better leasing spreads and maybe just connected to that? Is that connected at all to your confidence in buying a property that's vacant? And if you could just expand more on what the timeline is for expected stabilization of that asset.

Yeah, thanks, Mark. We continue to observe the strengths of MidBay Infill Industrial and Core Western Europe and Netherlands and Germany. These are assets that are located in close proximity to major population centers. such as Randstad, rural region, et cetera. And this strength is not new. We've seen that throughout 2025. You see that in our operating results, and we see that translate into our continued ability to push rents beyond business plan, and we are seeing these data points in our everyday leasing. When it comes to buying a vacant property, again, this is not new. So if you recall, last year we bought an asset that was vacant in the Netherlands. We stabilized that within two months of ownership at yields that exceeded our underwriting. This asset is in a different sub-market in the Netherlands, but it's a sub-market that's equally strong, and the physical attributes of the assets are robust as well, and we're pretty confident in our ability to lease this asset at yields that Gord quoted.

Okay, great. Thanks. That's all for me.

Thank you, Mark.

Your next question comes from the line of Sam Damiani from TD Coward. Your line is live.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Great to see the outlook reiterated in full there. As you go out into 2027, I know it's early days, but any comments you can share in terms of target leverage level that you've been wanting to run the read at post sort of redeployment of the proceeds of the sale into the DCI-JV?

Hi, thanks, Sam. I think we communicated that we would, as we redeploy the proceeds that we expected on a net debt to EBITDA basis, that we would trend towards the mid-7s, and that would be happening by the end of the year. And I think we would see that as we grow our EBITDA, you're going to see that trend downwards into 2027.

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. And I guess just looking at the data center sort of disclosure update there, I wonder if you could clarify with the megawatts for the three sites totaling 260 megawatts, like what is the REITs and sort of net ownership in that 260 and also the net ownership in the remaining 350 megawatts or so beyond that that you've identified?

Thank you, Sam, for that follow-up. The vast majority of the 260 is on REIT's balance sheet. There's only one asset for about 15 megawatt capacity that is in the JV. Of the 600, again, the majority is in the REIT's wholly owned portfolio.

Okay, great. Maybe just one last quick one. I mean, market rents seem to be stable. Alex, you've spoken fairly confidently about the trajectory sort of evolving over the coming quarters. Has anything changed in your outlook sort of here we are three months later?

So far, Sam, we're seeing data points that support the outlook of market rents, broader market rent growth in Canada resume in second half of 2026. Again, we're seeing evidence of that happening already in the West. seeing pockets of that happening in in the GTA more less on the asking rents but more on the achieved rents and we hope that as we continue the pace of absorption coming through that this is going to come through in the headline metrics that many market participants are focusing on great thank you it'll turn it back

The next question comes from the line of Brad Sturges from Raymond James. Your line is live.

Hey, good morning. Just looking at the Cambridge and Whitby projects, I think you noted that you're in active discussions for 500,000 square feet there. Just curious how far along would those potential discussions be, and do you have any line of sight, I guess, of if the leases were executed when occupancy and maybe rent payments could commence.

Thanks, Brad. So for one of the properties, we're in the LOI stage with a couple of prospective tenants. And the other one, we're seeing some good interest through tours.

Okay. So call it early days still. In terms of just You're progressing towards closing the second tranche on the CPP JV, and I'm sure the focus is on that for now, but I guess what would be the appetite from CPP from your point of view in terms of expanding that JV beyond what's been committed to date?

Just want to go back to the previous question on your takeaways there. It's a bit more advanced than sort of initial stages, just on the leasing inquiries. But switching gears to the second question, look, as we commented in our prepared remarks, we've acquired already our first asset with the DCI-JV from the market. good pipeline of additional assets that we're evaluating. As far as vending in assets into that JV from balance sheet, there's no active discussion, but as we've always commented with respect to our private ventures generally, opportunity to have a dialogue is always there if it's strategic for both parties.

I appreciate the clarification there, Alex. I guess it's just more a little bit too early to comment beyond what what you just provided there on the leasing front. Yeah, perfect. And then just any update, I guess, on the European JV opportunity? I know you've been working towards that, but if there's anything new you'd like to share at this point?

Nothing that we can share at this point. We're making progress there. As that advances, we'll provide an update, but nothing imminently to comment on. Again, just to reiterate, formation of a European JV will be part of build-out of our strategic private venture business, which is going to be in addition to all the ventures and all the private capital partnerships that we have today. So when we communicate our outlook for 2026 or 2027, and I believe when broadly market is modeling our business, these additional growth drivers are certainly not in our outlook. We don't believe that they're in the broader market outlook. So this is all going to be in addition to what we currently have in front of us.

Perfect. I appreciate that, Collar. I'll turn it back.

Your next question comes from the line of Kyle Stanley from Desjardins. Your line is live.

Thanks. Morning, everyone. Maybe just going back to the kind of reiteration of the outlook for the year. Obviously, very strong quarter in Q1 with the 9% same property gap. And why growth for the first half of the year, you've kind of highlighted maybe roughly above 8% and, you know, maybe in the six-ish percent range on the full year. Just wondering, you know, given the strong start to the year, why you maybe see that slowing into the balance of the year to kind of hit that lower full year guidance number?

hi Kyle thanks for that question you know you're correcting your observations I think as we progress through the year there's you know there's a significant amount of leasing that is still assumed and forecast to happen so certainly as we progress through the year and those are committed we will revisit the guidance okay okay that's fair and then

I think I was in the prepared remarks, you know, leasing pipeline of roughly 700,000 square feet. Would that be a combination of new and renewals?

It is Kyle. It's a combination of both more for a new deal. So it's more skewed towards new deals.

Okay. Thank you. And then just, Turning over to your leasing spread this quarter, obviously the 66% spread in Ontario, highest it's been in a little while. Really good to see that occurring. What's the driver there? Is it strength in the market? Is it just a mix of leases turning? We'd just love to understand what drove the increase again.

Yeah, thanks, Kyle. As Sam observed in his question, market rents have remained relatively steady in our disclosure this quarter. So we haven't seen dramatic changes in market rents. The spreads are really informed by the composition of space rolling and the quality of the space that is rolling. That's what drove the spreads. The market rent situation in our portfolio didn't change dramatically.

Okay, fair enough. And then just last one for me. In your leasing discussions today, is there a premium for sites that have elevated existing power capacity? You know, just trying to think through that maybe there is a higher and better use for what traditionally would have been, you know, an industrial facility, you know, transitioning towards data center. So I'm just wondering if that's something that's happening in your leasing discussions where you have an ability to ask for higher rent given an existing higher power capacity.

What we're seeing in that regard is it doesn't necessarily drive data center demand, but it drives a broader demand from a more diverse pool of occupiers, including defense occupiers, are attracted to higher levels of industrial power. In certain cases, having higher level of power makes it easier to kind of convert a site for data centers. But it's less of a driver in the day-to-day leasing. It's mostly just appealing to a broader range of occupiers.

And certainly when you have more demand for the space, that sort of indirectly creates upward pressure on rents.

Okay. That makes sense. Thanks for that. I'll turn it back.

The next question comes from the line of Himanshu Gupta from Scotiabank. Your line is live.

Thank you and good morning. So you mentioned around $500 million of, you know, acquisitions under exclusive negotiations. Can you elaborate, you know, like which markets, you know, quality of assets or timelines? And then also, how much is on the balance sheet versus on the joint venture?

Thanks, Yamantru. So just to kind of reiterate, so $500 million is on balance sheet. We have another $250 million in exclusive negotiations for the joint ventures. So that $250 million in addition to the $500 million is not part of the $500 million. As far as the on balance sheet assets... We are looking at a product that is very consistent with what you've seen from GM Industrial. So these are mid-bay assets predominantly in core locations in Canada, in Europe, in markets that we've talked about with our unit holders over the past few years. Going in cap rate is just around 6%. with mark-to-market potential that takes us to over 7%. And included in that is some development opportunities for small and mid-bay assets at a yield-on cost of around 8%.

Correct. This is helpful. And so, thanks for the clarification, $500 million all on balance sheet. And in terms of timeline, like Q2, Q3, or over the rest of the year?

Some are going to be closing over the next couple of months, and you will see probably most of them closing in around second half, more likely towards Q3, but timing is not exactly certain.

Got it. And so the mix between Canada and Europe, I mean, I think you mentioned kind of both regions. Is there a preference here, Canada versus Europe?

We have some acquisitions in Canada. A significant chunk of the pipeline is in Europe, as we also communicated in our broader capital allocation outlook at the beginning of the year. We're seeing more of a pipeline in Europe. Not the entire pipeline is in Europe, but a significant chunk is in Europe.

Got it. Okay. Thank you. And then maybe just to follow up there, I mean, obviously quite a bit of acquisitions here in the market here for, are you seeing like, you know, change in valuation trends or cap rate compared to six months or one year?

Nothing material. We're seeing around the edges there's possibility of that, but we haven't seen material changes over the last six months. There are competing forces at play. We've seen obviously interest rates impact some buyers underwriting. On the other hand, we've seen more capital generally looking for industrial opportunity. both in Canada and in Europe, and so there are competing forces at play, and as a result, we haven't seen material changes to cap rates.

Yeah, and maybe I should clarify, you know, more on the Europe side, I mean, given the geopolitics and war, still nothing, no change in trends in Europe so far.

We didn't have any material changes in trends in Europe so far.

Okay, fair enough. Thank you, and I'll be back.

Your next question comes from the line of Fred Blondeau from Green Street. Your line is live.

Thank you, and good morning. Just one question for me. Focusing on the GTA, I was wondering, given the extended leasing timelines, can you comment on how much free rents are required to attract tenants today? and how this quantum of free rent may have changed over the last, call it, over the last 12, 18 months?

Thank you, Fred. We have seen free rent sort of stabilizing. We haven't seen free rent increasing over the last couple of quarters. If anything, we're starting to see rents that support kind of or point to – Incentives generally declining and free rents as part of that declining marginally Usually we're talking on the new lease, but a couple of months of free rent on on a five-year five-year deal and in the context of a renewal This is you know, highly highly bespoke So they it ranges from no free rent to again, maybe a couple of months of free rent depending on the circumstances and Overall, as we said, we're seeing NERs improving in the GTA on a year-over-year basis, and that is a function of stronger absorption and declining vacancy rates.

A couple of months, that would be less than six months, of course, right?

Sorry, Fred, can you repeat that?

Yeah, we're just saying when you say a couple of months, that would be less than six months, of course.

Less than six months, correct, yes.

Yeah, perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you, Fred.

Your next question comes from the line of Tal Wolley from CIBC. Your line is live.

Hi, good morning. Just wondering, can you characterize, like, the industries or tenant types where you're seeing kind of, like, the best interest and demand right now?

Yeah, hi, Tal. It's Gord. We're seeing the bulk of our tours from various 3PLs in the market. Alex touched on defense. We're seeing more interest from federal government and Crown Corps as well, too. taking stock of our inventories, so we've been taking a lot of questions from them. But the bulk of our tours have been predominantly from 3PLs in the market.

And, you know, we're starting to see with the price of oil having shot up here, although, fingers crossed, it's retreating. You know, we've seen some pressure on a lot of transportation companies, whether it's airlines, freighters, that kind of stuff. on the tenant side, you know, just as we enter into sort of an era of higher oil prices?

Very topical question, Tal. We are in conversation with a lot of our occupiers about how this impacts their business. What we have observed is that all the pace of activity didn't really change over the last couple of months, as we've seen. oil prices increase and that is informing our resiliency commentary. In this environment, closer in locations do become much more relevant to these occupiers because to say on freight, which is very consistent with the thesis we've been articulating over the last few years about urban industrial, And, you know, that is, again, playing out right now.

Okay. And then lastly, you know, we've talked a lot on the call here about, you know, types of assets you might be interested in. I'm just wondering where they're coming from and, you know, have, you know, public, you know, we haven't really seen a lot of, like, It's a lot of take privates in the public space, but I'm just wondering if, you know, given where some of the industrial REITs are trading globally, like, are you seeing opportunities to, you know, approach some of these companies looking for either individual assets or portfolios?

Thanks for this follow-up. Look, we see a broad range of vendors out there in the market. There's all sorts of drivers that lead to potential transactions, finalization of business plans, end of fund life, broader capital recycling. So we're pretty happy with the pipeline that we have in front of us. There's lots to execute on. and we'll always look for off-market opportunities, whether it's with the groups that you just summarized or with others, we continue to look for those opportunities across our target market.

Okay, that's great. Thanks very much, everybody. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question during this time, you may simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Matt Kornack, from National Bank Capital Markets. Your line is live.

Hey, guys. Just looking at third-party stats, Toronto, or the GTA, I should say, seems to be getting the lion's share of absorption. Can you give us a sense as to why this market in particular is doing so well? And then maybe on the other side, Montreal, it seems like you're outperforming the markets. So, how are you kind of winning away tenants maybe from others or getting new tenants in the market?

Yeah, thanks, Matt. Maybe starting with Montreal, our portfolio in Montreal is predominantly small and mid-bay, and that segment of the market is healthy in Montreal. We're seeing rents in the mid-teens, escalators. kind of on either end of three and that theme is consistent and we haven't seen sort of a material change in that theme over the last couple of years and it is continuing into 2026 and that is what's driving our results. When it comes to the GTA market, it's the largest market in the country and the most diverse market in the country We have obviously seen a bit of a pause in the GTA as interest rates spiked in 2023, inflation spiked. There was a lot of occupiers in the GTA market that were, let's say, on pause with their expansion needs and some occupiers who took more space than they needed in 2021, 2022. So that space came back to the market. We saw a bit of a supply delivery in 2024, and what we're seeing now is that the pent-up demand is coming through, and there's gradual absorption of that new supply, including in the big boxes, which is encouraging. Again, that's not a significant part of our business, but it's encouraging to see.

Maybe looking south of the border as well, there's increasing confidence, I think, in the U.S. around guys taking space in large amounts. You mentioned the hesitancy. Do you think we need to get past USMCA negotiations at least to have a little bit of certainty before you see that flood of interest appear maybe on a broader basis? Or are you even having those discussions around trade with your tenants at this point?

There's very few discussions with our occupiers that were centered around trade. trade at the moment, including renegotiations of USMCA. So we haven't seen that impact occupier sentiment. As to whether there's added demand, should there be more certainty around USMCA, it's likely the case, but we don't really have empirical evidence to support that claim. It seems right, but it remains to be seen. If anything, it's going to be net additive to what we're seeing already.

Okay. No, that's fair. And then maybe just lastly, in terms of, again, the sense of urgency as Toronto and other markets kind of see availability peak here, do you think that inspires guys to make decisions in advance of kind of supply maybe becoming more constrained here as we would expect given kind of normal absorption levels in Toronto and other markets?

Are you referring to occupiers moving faster?

Yeah, I'm just trying to get in ahead of potentially a tightening market.

Look, that's a possibility. We're already seeing some of that with some occupiers where occupiers are looking to do blend and extends and or secure early renewals for 2027. well, 2027 onwards lease expiries and in many cases asking for longer lease terms. Okay, perfect.

Thanks, guys. Your final question comes from the line of Pommy Beer from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is live.

Thanks. Good morning. Maybe just coming back to Matt's Question, trying to reconcile the comments earlier about extended lease time, lease timelines. I think that was made in the opening remarks versus, you know, some tenants looking to do some early renewals, blend and extend. Can you just clarify that? Like is it taking longer to get lease deals done or not really?

It's taking longer to get new lease deals done. So to fill vacancy or new developments, taking still longer. We, to give you an example, some of the LOIs that Gord referred to, we've been in discussions with this group for close to six months. This is not new. We commented on that last quarter and probably the quarter before. Now, normal timelines would be half of that. So the decision timelines for new leases are still longer. At the same time, retention ratios are consistently high. because still occupiers are looking to stay in place, and some of them may feel that now is a good time in the market, going back to Matt's comment and question, to secure space for longer, given the supply pipeline in the GTA broadly is declining. and market is looking like it's turning the corner from an occupier standpoint. So some occupiers are thinking about securing renewals for longer.

Okay, got it. And then just, again, maybe sticking with that theme, for the extended timelines on new deals, is this more skewed to Canada, or have you seen that start to play out in Europe as well? Or maybe it already was, I guess.

Generally, it would be skewed to Canada. In Europe, we haven't seen changes to new leasing timelines dramatically. For bigger boxes, the timelines have been relatively long for a couple of years, and that didn't really change up or down. And again, small and mid boxes, we're seeing pretty solid pace of demand.

OK. And then just in terms of the, I guess, the capital coming back for the DCIJV transaction, you know, you've been obviously pretty active on the NCIB. You're at the low end of your, I guess, $100 million to $200 million initial target. How are you feeling about, you know, additional buybacks at this stage? Or is the thinking maybe perhaps to keep more dry powder for that pipeline of acquisitions you cited?

So, look, we'll evaluate. Obviously, the NCIB activity will be a function of the unit price accretion to FO and NAV that we achieve from NCIB relative to opportunities that we see on the acquisition side. So we'll continuously evaluate this as we see movements in the unit price and as we compare that to the acquisition opportunities in front of us.

Got it. Okay, just the last one. On the, I guess, the first tranche of assets that were sold in the quarter to that JV, was the pricing or the cap rate on that pretty much in line with the overall portfolio, or was this much of a difference?

The cap rate on the second tranche would be a bit lower overall. Obviously, we'll provide the... the details as we close the tranche, but it's going to be a bit lower than the first tranche. Okay. The cap rate overall is in line with what we quoted. Obviously, that's the metric that is the most relevant, and how it's broken out by tranche is informed by, or the cap rate by tranche is informed by occupancy primarily of the assets that are in each tranche.

Got it. Thanks very much. I'll turn it back.

So that concludes our question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back to Mr. Sanikov for any closing remarks.

Thank you for your interest and support of Dream Industrial REIT. We look forward to reporting on our progress next quarter. Goodbye.

This brings today's meeting to a close. You may now disconnect.