Singaporean investors went on a regional hotel shopping binge in H1

They were the most active acquirer in Asia Pacific.

Singaporean investors indulged in a hotel shopping spree in the first half the year, spending US$822m ($1.13b) in hotel acquisitions across the region.

According to Savills, Singapore companies still represented 24% of Asia Pacific hotel acquisitions although the current figure is 46% lower compared to the same period last year.

“This quarter, Singapore invested in 10 hotels, nine of which were outside of Singapore, refl ecting their propensity to invest abroad. Investors from Singapore were the most active, with US$587 million or 30% of all investment sales in Q2/2015. Investors from China were second with 23%, while investors from Hong Kong, and Japan followed, both with 14% of total Asia Pacifi c transactions,” said the report.

Notable transactions includes the Royal Group’s US$105m (MYR 388m) acquisition of the 540-room Double Tree by Hilton in Kuala Lumpur from BlackRock. This was the largest single-asset transaction in Southeast Asia for this quarter.