Sale of 12 properties nets proceeds of $174 million

    TORONTO, Aug. 18 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (CTC.a, CTC)
today announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale and leaseback of
12 properties for proceeds of $174 million. Canadian Tire expects to realize a
pre-tax gain on the sale of approximately $70 million, which will be amortized
over the initial 15 year term of the leases. The transaction is subject to
standard closing conditions and Competition Act approval and is expected to
close in September 2008.
    Located in communities across the country, each of the 12 properties in
the portfolio include a recently constructed or expanded Canadian Tire store
and six of the sites also feature a Mark's Work Wearhouse. Together, the
properties total approximately 996,000 square feet of gross leaseable area.
Canadian Tire owns approximately 74% of its Canadian Tire Retail store network
and leases the balance of its other retail properties. The group of properties
included in the transaction announced today represents approximately 4% of the
net book value of Canadian Tire's total real estate portfolio.
    "While we continue to see real value in owning the majority of our real
estate assets, carefully selected sale/leasebacks enable us to monetize the
value of select properties creating financial flexibility while maintaining
our overall operating flexibility," says Tom Gauld, president and CEO,
Canadian Tire Corporation. "The properties included in this transaction are
locations featuring stores that are either new or recently expanded so we do
not see a need to relocate these stores in the foreseeable future. This
enables us to monetize these sites at attractive rates while creating
financial flexibility."
    Canadian Tire will continue to selectively look at opportunities to
monetize real estate assets including the two urban Canadian Tire stores and
Eastern Canada Distribution Centre announced earlier this year.

    Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC), operates more than
1,170 general merchandise and apparel retail stores and gas stations in an
inter-related network of businesses engaged in retail, financial services and
petroleum. Canadian Tire Retail, Canada's most shopped general merchandise
retailer, with 473 stores operated by Dealers across Canada offers a unique
mix of products and services through three specialty categories in which the
organization is the market leader - Automotive, Sports and Leisure, and Home
Products. www.canadiantire.ca offers Canadians the opportunity to shop online.
PartSource is an automotive parts specialty chain with 75 stores designed to
meet the needs of purchasers of automotive parts - professional automotive
installers and serious do-it-yourselfers. Canadian Tire Petroleum is one of
the country's largest and most productive independent retailers of gasoline,
operating 267 gas bars, 259 convenience stores and kiosks, and 74 car washes.
Mark's Work Wearhouse is one of the country's leading apparel retailers
operating 364 stores in Canada. Under the Clothes that Work™ marketing
strategy, Mark's sells apparel and footwear in work, work-related, casual and
active-wear categories, as well as health-care and business-to-business
apparel. www.marks.com offers Canadians the opportunity to shop for Mark's
products online. Canadian Tire Financial Services has issued over 5 million
Canadian Tire MasterCards and also markets related financial products and
services for retail and petroleum customers. Canadians can also access
Financial Services online at www.ctfs.com. Over 57,000 Canadians work across
Canadian Tire's organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail,
financial services, and petroleum businesses.