Regal Partners Limited
Regal Partners is an ASX-listed Australian alternative asset manager and one of the country's largest investors in water entitlements. It holds that water exposure through two subsidiaries, Kilter Rural and Argyle Group, inside about A$1.8 billion of real and natural assets. As of early 2026 the group oversees roughly A$21 billion across eight investment boutiques.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Regal Partners owns the plumbing of Australia's water market rather than a row of water startups. Through two subsidiaries, Kilter Rural and Argyle Group, the firm invests in water entitlements, the legal right to take water from the southern Murray-Darling Basin, and leases that water to irrigation farmers. That makes Regal one of the largest institutional owners of tradable Australian water rights, a corner of water investing most newcomers have never heard of.
Regal Partners itself is young, formed in 2022 when listed hedge-fund manager VGI Partners merged with Regal Funds Management, the Sydney shop the King brothers started in 2004. The water businesses arrived by acquisition: Regal took half of Kilter Rural in 2018 and a stake in Argyle Group in 2024. Kilter and Argyle had each spent more than a decade turning water rights into an investable asset class, with Argyle launching Australia's first investable water fund back in 2012.
Regal Partners' water funds share a simple idea: in a dry country, the right to water is scarce, priced, and tradable, so it can pay income from leasing to farmers and grow in value as scarcity bites. Kilter Rural's Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund, run with The Nature Conservancy, goes further and donates water back to stressed wetlands, which is why it is often called Australia's only explicit impact water fund.
Regal Partners looks tiny in my own water directory, which logs just 1 water company across 2 deals, but that count only sees the listed-equity side, where Regal Funds has backed names like lithium developer CleanTech Lithium. It cannot see the entitlement funds, which sit inside roughly A$1.8 billion of real and natural assets. For a newcomer, Regal is the clearest way to understand water as a financial asset rather than a technology bet, and it is worth watching as scarcity pushes water up the investment agenda.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Regal Partners invest in?
- Regal Partners is an Australian alternative asset manager that invests across hedge funds, private credit, growth equity, and real and natural assets. Its water exposure sits in that last pillar, through entitlement funds run by subsidiaries Kilter Rural and Argyle Group. The group oversees around A$21 billion across eight boutiques as of early 2026.
- How is Regal Partners involved in water?
- Regal Partners invests in water mainly through two subsidiaries, Kilter Rural and Argyle Group, which manage Australian water entitlements, the tradable rights to use water from the Murray-Darling Basin. These funds lease water to irrigation farmers for income and hold it as a scarce, appreciating asset, with some capacity reserved for environmental flows.
- Who runs Regal Partners?
- Regal Partners is led by chief executive and managing director Brendan O'Connor, with Philip King, who co-founded Regal Funds Management in 2004, as a central investment figure. Its water businesses are run by Argyle Group founder Kim Morison and Kilter Rural chief executive Cullen Gunn, who each built water-entitlement funds over more than a decade.
- Where is Regal Partners based?
- Regal Partners is based in Sydney, Australia, and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker RPL. It was formed in 2022 through the merger of Regal Funds Management and VGI Partners, and now runs eight investment brands with offices that extend to Singapore, London, and New York.
- Is Regal Partners the same as Regal Funds Management?
- Regal Partners is the ASX-listed parent company; Regal Funds Management is one of the eight investment boutiques it owns. Regal Funds, founded by Philip and Andrew King in 2004, became the cornerstone of Regal Partners when it merged with VGI Partners in 2022. The water funds sit in separate subsidiaries, Kilter Rural and Argyle Group.