KINGSTON Properties Limited (KPREIT) has restarted work on its previously announced capital raise and hopes to return to the market before the end of the year, as the real estate company looks to rely less heavily on debt to fund its next phase of expansion.

Chief Executive Officer Kevin Richards on Tuesday told the Jamaica Observer that a broker has already been engaged for the transaction, which is expected to take the form of an additional public offering additional public offering. The amount to be raised is still being worked out.

“We received shareholder approval for an additional public offering (APO) last year. We also increased the share capital to unlimited and allowed for the issuing of shares denominated in another currency besides Jamaican dollars and to list those shares on the JSE (Jamaica Stock Exchange),” Richards said.

The company had initially planned to proceed with the offer last year but postponed it following Hurricane Melissa.

“Given the impact of Hurricane Melissa last year, the offer was postponed to this year. We have engaged a broker and the process has commenced and we hope to come to market before the end of this year,” Richards said.

The planned raise comes as KPREIT continues an expansion programme that has been financed largely through borrowing over the past three years.

Loans payable stood at US$39.78 million at the end of June, up from US$36.83 million at December 2025 and US$33.84 million a year earlier.

Its debt-to-equity ratio also increased to 70.5 per cent from 63.3 per cent at June 2025. During the first half, the company issued a US$3.9-million unsecured bond carrying an interest rate of 6.5 per cent and a 13-month maturity.

Richards, however, said KPREIT remains comfortable with its debt position, noting that its leverage remains below levels typically seen among diversified real estate investment trusts in the United States.

“We have consistently used leverage prudently and have maintained debt ratios well below the level that obtains for standard diversified portfolio REITs in the US that tend to have debt-to-equity ratios in excess of 100 per cent,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged that debt has carried much of KPREIT’s recent expansion.

“The expansion of the portfolio over the last three years has been funded largely by debt and to a lesser extent select asset disposals. This equity raise will rebalance the acquisition strategy towards less reliance on debt, resulting in improved funds from operations, which is the basis on which we pay dividends.”

Richards said proceeds from the new offer will also be used to continue expanding KPREIT’s property portfolio and improve its capital structure, with the longer-term aim of increasing dividends to shareholders.

The company previously raised capital through a renounceable rights issue in 2019 and an APO in 2022.

The new capital is being pursued at a time when KPREIT is already looking at another overseas acquisition.

Richards disclosed that the company is in advanced due diligence for what would become its fourth property in the United Kingdom, once final terms can be agreed.

“We continue to seek out new deals in the UK and we are currently in a fairly advanced due diligence process for another acquisition, once the final terms are agreed,” he told the Business Observer.

The UK has rapidly become a bigger contributor to KPREIT’s business.

The company acquired its third UK property, an office building in Dartford, about 20 minutes outside Central London, in December 2025. The three properties now account for about 15 per cent of KPREIT’s total portfolio, according to Richards.

For the six months to June, UK rental income jumped 78.5 per cent to US$791,394, compared with US$443,337 a year earlier. The UK consequently accounted for about 21 per cent of group rental income, up from approximately 15 per cent during the corresponding period last year.

Richards described the UK as an “opportunistic market” for KPREIT, with fully tenanted buildings available at attractive yields.

The company said in its second- quarter report that pricing conditions in the UK continue to provide opportunities to acquire industrial, logistics and other commercial properties at net yields above its cost of capital.

KPREIT currently has investments across Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom and the United States. At the end of June, its investment properties, including deposits on properties, had carrying valued of US$86.13 million, comprising US$35.51 million in Jamaica, US$36.65 million in the Cayman Islands and US$13.97 million in the United Kingdom.

Its exposure to the United States is now primarily through real estate investments rather than rental properties. At June, KPREIT held a US$1.51-million investment in Polaris at Camp Creek LLC, a real estate fund formed to acquire and develop property in the United States.

Jamaica remains the group’s largest contributor to rental income, generating US$1.66 million, or 45 per cent of rental income, for the six months to June. Cayman generated US$1.27 million, while the UK contributed US$791,394.

RICHARDS… given the impact of Hurricane Melissa last year, the offer was postponed to this year. We have engaged a broker and the process has commenced and we hope to come to market before the end of this year (Photo: KPREIT)