Mall owner buying back stock

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

TORONTO -- TrizecHahn Corp., a Canadian real estate company that owns the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin resort on the Las Vegas Strip, said it will buy back up to 10.3 million shares, or about 10 percent of shares eligible for trading.

The Toronto-based company said the buyback is an attempt to close the gap between its share price and the value of its real estate holdings.

"TrizecHahn believes that the value of its underlying assets and growth prospects is not fully reflected in its share price and that a share buy back at these price levels would be an excellent use of our capital," Christopher Mackenzie, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

TrizecHahn's shares fell 5 cents to $15.70 on the New York Stock Exchange in midday trading Tuesday, putting the value of the buyback at about $162 million. Analysts have pegged the value of the company's real estate at more than $20 a share.

Separately, TrizecHahn reported a first quarter profit of $19.8 million or 13 cents per share, down from $22.7 million or 14 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell from $320.4 million to $256.4 million. TrizecHahn attributed the revenue decline to asset sales.