Yesterday, there was an article which I read that caught my attention immediately. The title itself was self-provoking as “tweaking” regulatory limits for S-REITs gearing probably warrants a deeper discussion on the topic itself. This news is not surprising and has been in consideration for many years, but it shows up and revolves around when S-REITs as an industry itself are struggling, especially the past 1-2 years at the back of high interest rates, sluggish demand, and lower property valuations all providing not one, two, but triple whammy to the REITs. To reiterate what constitutes the current rules for S-REITs (which were revised in 2020), S-REITs should not have aggregate leverage exceeding 45% of the total assets to equity. REITs may exceed this threshold up to a maximum of 50% gearing only if it has an interest coverage ratio (ICR) of at least 2.5x. The discussion here is that specific to the pointed leverage limit, it should not be included in the...