SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – The manager of SPH Reit on Monday (Nov 23) defended its decision not to disclose the salaries of its key management personnel in the real estate investment trust’s (Reit) latest annual report, in response to a query from the Singapore Exchange.

In its query, SGX noted that SPH Reit had not complied fully with a provision in the corporate governance code addressing the disclosure of remuneration for key management personnel.

In its bourse filing addressing the query, SPH Reit Management acknowledged that the remuneration and breakdown with respect to its key management personnel have not been disclosed in SPH Reit’s annual report. However, the report sets out the remuneration policy, its key objectives, considerations in fixing remuneration packages and the mix of remuneration, the manager said.

In explaining its policy, the manager said that the remuneration of its directors and employees are not paid out of the deposited property of SPH Reit. The remuneration is paid directly by the manager, which is a private company. The fees that the manager gets from SPH Reit are disclosed in the annual report.

“(There) is no misalignment between the remuneration of the directors and the key management personnel of the manager and the interests of the unitholders given that their remuneration is not linked to the gross revenue of SPH Reit,” it said.

The manager added that “remuneration matters for the CEO and each of the executive officers are highly confidential and sensitive matters”, and that such disclosure may negatively impact the manager in attracting and retaining talent for the long term.

SPH Reit is sponsored by Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes The Business Times and The Straits Times. Units of SPH Reit closed at 82 cents on Monday, up 0.6 per cent.