Ascott Residence Trust sells two serviced residences for $191.4m

Proceeds may be deployed for other higher-yielding assets.

Ascott Residence Trust (ART) has agreed to divest two serviced residences, namely Ascott Guangzhou in China and Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris in France, to two unrelated third parties, for about $191.4m, according to a news release.

Ascott Guangzhou in China was sold at a price of $155m (RMB780m), whilst Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris in France was sold for $36.4m (EUR23.6m). ART is expected to realise about $23.2m in total estimated net gains upon the completion of both transactions.

According to the CEO of ART’s managers, Beh Siew Kim, they are looking out for opportunities to deploy the proceeds to other higher yielding assets for ART. They may also use the proceeds to pare down ART’s debt and reduce its gearing, as distribution to stapled securityholders, or for general corporate purposes.

ART first acquired Ascott Guangzhou from The Ascott Limited for $84.98m (RMB431m) in 2012, and has been operational for 12 years. The 207-unit luxury serviced residence is located in the city’s financial hub of Tianhe.

Meanwhile, Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris was one of the 28 properties ART acquired from The Ascott Limited for a total sum of $1.39b in 2010. The 80-unit serviced residence is located in the 14th arrondissement of France’s capital city.