A recent move by ESR to increase its stake in Sabana REIT and its manager has prompted a query from Singapore Exchange (SGX), the republic’s market regulator.

A focus of the query is the consideration paid for units of Sabana REIT, and premiums that will be paid over book, and open market values.

ESR recently acquired more units of the Shari’ah-compliant REIT, and has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire 51.0% of the entire issued and paid-up capital of Sabana Investment Partners (SIP).

The acquisition of millions more of Sabana REIT units has been done to enhance ESR’s income diversification, the company said in its statement on 23 May.

Related: ESR Cayman strengthens hold on Sabana REIT with multi-million units deals