Borrowing update

RNS Number : 6011J

Regional REIT Limited

06 December 2018

 

6 December 2018

REGIONAL REIT Limited

("Regional REIT", "the Group" or "the Company")

Borrowing update

Regional REIT, the UK regional office and industrial property focused real estate investment trust, today announces it has agreed a new £36m secured 10-year facility ("The New Facility") with Scottish Widows Limited, arranged by Bank of Scotland's Real Estate and Housing team.

£13m of the proceeds from The New Facility will be used to repay the outstanding balance of the 5% ICG Longbow Limited facility, which was due to mature August 2019, with the remainder being used for acquisitions and capital expenditure.

The New Facility has a very competitive fixed rate, which will be set on the date of the drawdown and is anticipated to be 3.45-3.6%.

In addition to the above repayment, it has been agreed to extend the Royal Bank of Scotland £34.3m facility for 1 year to December 2021.

As a result of the above activity, the Group's cost of borrowing, including hedging, will be c.3.8%, with an unexpired debt term extended to 6.5 years, and following the proposed repayment of the Zero Dividend Preference Shares in January 2019 will be c.3.5% and 7.2 years respectively.

Stephen Inglis, Chief Executive Officer of London & Scottish Investments Limited, commented: "This refinancing is another example of our disciplined approach to risk management and securing well priced debt for longer terms to minimise the effects of any future interest rate rises. The new facility will enable us to repay current borrowings, execute new opportunities and maintain one of the sector's highest progressive dividends.

"Regional REIT continues to be well supported by its key lenders through its next phase of growth. We are delighted to continue to work with both Scottish Widows and the Royal Bank of Scotland and look forward to strengthening our close working relationship over the coming years."

- ENDS -

Enquiries:

Regional REIT Limited
Press enquiries through Headland
Toscafund Asset Management	Tel: [phone]
Investment Manager to the Group
Adam Dickinson, Investor Relations, Regional REIT Limited
London & Scottish Investments	Tel: [phone]
Asset Manager to the Group
Stephen Inglis
Headland PR Consultancy LLP	Tel: [phone]
Financial PR
Francesca Tuckett / Jack Gault

About Regional REIT

Regional REIT Limited (LSE: RGL) is a London Stock Exchange Main Market traded specialist real estate investment trust focused on office and industrial property interests in the principal regional locations of the United Kingdom outside of the M25 motorway.

Regional REIT is managed by London & Scottish Investments, the Asset Manager, and Toscafund Asset Management, the Investment Manager, and was formed by the combination of two existing funds previously created by the Managers as a differentiated play on the expected recovery in UK regional property, to deliver an attractive total return to Shareholders and with a strong focus on income.

The Group's investment portfolio, as at 30 June 2018, was spread across 151 regional properties, 1,294 units and 950 tenants. As at 30 June 2018, the investment portfolio had a value of £758.7m and a net initial yield of 6.4%. The weighted average unexpired lease term to first break was 3.5 years.

The Company's shares were admitted to the Official List of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange on 6 November 2015. For more information, please visit the Group's website at www.regionalreit.com.

Cautionary Statement

This document has been prepared solely to provide additional information to Shareholders to assess the Group's performance in relation to its operations and growth potential. The document should not be relied upon by any other party or for any other reason. Any forward looking statements made in this document are done so by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this document. However, such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information.

ESMA Legal Entity Identifier ("LEI"): (549300D8G4NKLRIKBX73)

 

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