Agnico-Eagle to sell real estate holdings

A lucrative offer for Agnico-Eagle Mines’ (TSE) Ontario real estate holdings has proved too good to refuse.

Agnico-Eagle says it will sell the holdings which include a parcel of industrial land in Scarborough and an operating marina to an Ontario- based home builder called Iona Corp.

When the transaction closes on March 31, 1989, Agnico said proceeds will add up to $42.4 million and the company will have $20 million cash to spend on a number of major projects including its 32% owned Dumagami Mines (TSE) division.

Although the announcement comes less than two months after Agnico-Eagle announced a first quarter loss of $1.6 million or 12 per share — its first quarterly loss since 1977 — the company said the two events are unrelated.

“We are a mining company so why not take a profit when it was offered,” said comptroller Sean Boyd.

In its first foray into real estate, Agnico bought 40 acres of farmland in the Scarborough’s Markham Road and Steeles area in July 1986 as an investment. “We had intended to spin off our real estate division into a public company,” said Boyd. “But after the market crash, we realised that it wouldn’t be feasible.”

However, Boyd said the sale does not mean the end of a real estate division which has looked at over 100 properties since it was formed in 1986.