Prosperity Real Estate Investment Trust has been asked by the Securities and Futures Commission to change its trust deed before next week's trading debut to require investors to disclose holdings of more than 5 per cent.
The deed currently requires disclosure to the reit manager if the holdings exceed a 10 per cent interest in the trust. The information must then be passed on to all other unit holders.
The SFC request follows reports last week that a British hedge fund bought almost 18 per cent of the Link Reit on the open market.
The acquisition took investors by surprise and, while it sparked a rally in the share price, it also raised concerns the fund may be looking to amass enough shares to reach the 25 per cent level where it could call a meeting to remove the trustee or the manager, or indeed terminate the entire trust.
The Link Reit applied the same 10 per cent disclosure threshold as Prosperity Reit.
'As a responsible regulator, the SFC considers it appropriate and necessary to respond to the developments in the market and continue to improve the regulatory regime,' a spokesman said, adding that the trust deeds of reits were required to contain disclosure of interest provisions for unit holders.
'From now on, the SFC expects the disclosure threshold to be set at no more than 5 per cent,' he said.