Sumit Roy, president and CEO of Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O), sat down for a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2024 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on Nov. 18-21.
Roy discussed the company’s diverse investment strategy, which spans multiple verticals such as retail, industrial, data centers, and gaming. The common thread of the business model is single-tenant net leases.
Diversification has its benefits, Roy said. The data center asset class is currently most in favor, driven by the surge in AI and cloud computing. Meanwhile, industrial properties continue to perform well, and some retail areas, particularly second-generation assets, are seeing growth due to high development costs for new projects.
International investments, especially in Europe, have also been a key focus, Roy said, with a stable market and less competition that offers continued opportunities for growth.
Roy also addressed Realty Income’s plans to create a private capital investment platform. This initiative is designed to diversify financing sources, adding private equity to complement the REIT’s reliance on public markets. The goal is to tap into a less volatile and more abundant private equity pool, helping the company maintain financial stability and growth, he explained.