CIBCWorld Markets Corp. analyst Dean Wilkinson downgraded his investmentopinion of Milestone Apartments RealEstate Investment Trust to "neutral" from "sectoroutperformer," and decreased his price target to C$22 from C$22.50.

The analyst wrote in a research report: "While we have held the viewthat Milestone could have been a candidate for M&A activity from apotential large U.S. based acquirer, we were admittedly somewhat surprised bythe timing of the announcement, noting that the asset management function ofthe REIT was recently internalized at a cost to the REIT, generating anapproximate $12.5 mln annualized savings which only enured to the REIT'sbenefit for a limited period. Given the friendly nature of the offer, andStarwood's right to match any competing bid, we put the odds of an interloperbid as low at this point. While we suspect many investors would have preferredto see some reflection of the valuation of the platform (and recentinternalization) in the offer we don't anticipate an increase thereto."