MORNING NEWS: Regional REIT hits market for £110m

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. Regional REIT is tapping shareholders for a £110.5m equity raise to help it pay down debt. The deal will let the company repay its £50m retail bond as well as reduce bank borrowing and cut its loan-to-value ratio to 56.8%. Stephen Inglis, chief executive at asset manager London & Scottish Property Investment Management, said: “Since the Covid-19 pandemic the company has been operating in a challenging environment, resulting in the LTV increasing. The fully underwritten and fully pre-emptive capital raising provides the best long-term solution.” Peter Crowther, co-founder of development manager HERE, has been elected president of the British Council for Offices. “As we adapt to the new realities of hybrid, tech-enabled working conditions, the role of the office will continue to adapt to best meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s workers,” said Crowther. “I look forward to working with the BCO committees across the regions as we explore new models for office design and operation, and how commercial real estate can feed into the broader development of UK cities.” And sticking with offices, click here for a round-up of EG’s first Future of the Workplace event. Over an afternoon at Kings Place in King’s Cross, guests heard a series of panels and presentations delving into everything that a period of massive change means for the office market. With working practices and workplace demands evolving, what does that mean for offices – their design, development and valuation; for their owners – how easy is it to lease or sell them; and for their occupiers – is there enough of the kind of space a modern, growing business now wants to occupy? All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Regional REIT launches £110m equity raiseHarworth sells Leeds site to Microsoft for data centreTarget Healthcare sells four assetsSEGRO buys €222m Netherlands portfolioRoadside focused on ‘scaling’ pipelineHow to make the office a ‘cauldron of connection’Is commercial real estate metamorphosing into residential?Hotel chain Hyatt beefs up for EMEA expansionNew EPRA chair pledges to support sector on recovery pathBioMed makes trio of promotionsStratford Waterfront scheme waved throughDuo launch London property consultancyFrasers eyes full ownership of Princesshay shopping centreAtelier finances Grade II listed Bristol PBSA schemeFrench investor Iroko Zen makes UK office market debutTrinity Investments makes senior European team hiresBlackstone closes deal for KSL’s Village Hotels portfolioHostel chain snaps up Edinburgh officeKeepmoat invests £91m into Cable Wharf regenWest London office-to-resi site hits the marketLiverpool blocks Centric House office-to-resi plansINREV institutional resi allocations triple over 10 yearsRLAM and Scannell plan £135m Kent logistics developmentChancerygate gets consent for Chicester urban logistics siteFormer Trophaeum MD joins CEG leadership teamReal estate set for a restart later in 2024London Square acquires 700-home Woolwich schemeSEGRO adds 20 acres of logistics with Rainham consentAPC Series: Alienation in actionFirst Universal theme park in Europe to generate ‘£50bn of economic benefits for UK’Top-rated European commercial mortgage bonds set for first losses since credit crisis (£)