Regalian directors get options

REGALIAN Properties has granted options over 2.3 million shares to three of its directors at 25p, 4.5p below yesterday's closing price.

The options are exercisable in the seven years from December 1996, provided the group has achieved a specified return on capital.

David Goldstone, chairman and chief executive, said the target return on capital was based on returns achieved by similar companies and the formula had been agreed with its advisers.

He is taking 1,197,455 of the options while Robert Perdeaux, finance director, gets 590,237 and Roland King, development director, 533,642. A further 1 million options will be shared between 13 other executives. If exercised, the options will represent 2.7 per cent of the enlarged share capital, although the group points out that this is in line with Association of British Insurers guidelines.

The executives have given up rights to previous options over 2.1 million shares, exercisable at prices between 84p and 247p.

The shares reached 304p in 1987 but plunged as the property market collapsed and Regalian's high borrowings became a millstone. They have recovered from 2.25p last August as it sold most of the flats in its Kensington Palace Gardens development.

Last month, it revealed that its debt had fallen from pounds 140m to pounds 15m in 18 months. Its interim loss dropped from pounds 21.5m to pounds 869,000.