Regional REIT – executive interview

Regional REIT (RGL) is a specialist investor in offices across regional centres of the UK, outside the M25. It is actively managed with a strong focus on income returns. The steep rise in interest rates, combined with uncertainty about the pattern of post-pandemic office use, has seen office values fall significantly. In August, RGL successfully raised more than £100m in new equity, to repay borrowings and invest in the portfolio, to further enhance the occupier appeal and income potential of core assets and to capture a larger share of the value uplift from sales for alternative use. This comes at an interesting time. Interest rates have begun to recede, the pattern of office use is becoming clearer and there is a shortage of good-quality stock with the environmental credentials that occupiers increasingly demand. RGL has made great strides in this respect, with well over half its assets already compliant with the 2030 legal requirement, far ahead of the wider market.

In this interview, Stephen Inglis, CEO of the asset manager to RGL, London & Scottish Property Investment Management, discusses in detail the company’s strategy for extracting value from the portfolio and the future balance of returns between income and capital.