SEC to expand REIT asset pool

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to encourage more industries to list their assets as real estate investment trusts (REITs) by expanding the list of income-generating assets that can qualify as REIT assets.

- By JAMES A. LOYOLA

In an interview, SEC Chairman Francis Ed. Lim said the SEC is clearly defining what qualifies as an income-generating asset under the REIT Law “in order to minimize issues.”

“We are expanding the definition so that more companies will be able to lease,” he said explaining that, real estate assets are immovable properties and, therefore, by definition under the Civil Code, they are real property and, therefore, if they generate income on a regular basis, that's a ‘REIT-able’ asset.”