by Dave Baxter, Investors Chronicle, October 2, 2025:
It has been a tough few years for the renewable energy infrastructure trusts, as illustrated by the latest plan at Octopus Renewables Infrastructure (ORIT).
The trust has unveiled what it dubbed a “strategic road map for growth”. This includes around £30mn of share buybacks and seeking to bring debt to less than 40 per cent of gross asset value. That figure came to 47 per cent in mid-September..
QuotedData’s James Carthew, meanwhile, pointed to property play Regional Reit (RGL), which had some £310mn of borrowings at the end of June. However, it has started to make progress when it comes to selling assets to get this down..
Carthew argued that relatively high debt levels on infrastructure and property trusts “reflect the predictability of income”.
“Lenders are cautious,” he said. “It was interesting to see Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID) doing deals with insurance companies to put a floor in its income as a way of providing comfort to lenders ahead of a refinancing of its debt.”
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