Ascott buys $192m serviced home in Sydney

This, along with 13 more properties, brought the company some $10b in asset value.

CapitaLand’s lodging business unit The Ascott has invested $192m to buy a freehold serviced residence in Sydney to be renamed Citadines Walker North Sydney, according to a press release.

The residence is part of a 48-storey integrated development which also has office and retail components and is set to be the tallest tower in North Sydney upon its completion in 2021.

The acquisition was made through the Ascott Serviced Residence Global Fund (ASRGF), the company’s global fund with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Ascott also signed franchise and management contracts for 13 more properties globally at the grand opening of La Clef Champs-Élysées Paris in France, one of the assets invested by ASRGF under The Crest Collection.

Also read: Ascott to open four new properties by end-2019

These, along with the acquisition in Australia, brought the company $10b in asset value and an addition of over 2,200 units.

Amongst the 14 newly secured properties are four franchise agreements signed with French serviced housing provider Aegide Domitys, all opening between 2020 to 2023: Citadines Connect City Centre Roanne placed under Citadines Connect brand of business hotels; Hôtel Château Belmont Tours and La Clef Golfe-Juan under The Crest Collection; and Citadines Toulouse.

Of the nine new management contracts, Citadines IFC Shenyang and Citadines Huijin Nanxiang Shanghai are secured under Ascott’s partnership with Nasdaq-listed Huazhu Hotels Group and its subsidiary CJIA Apartments Group. To date, eight properties in China have been signed under this partnership.

Ascott announced that it has also secured its first Yello-branded hotel in Vietnam. In addition, Ascott has sealed two management contracts in Bandung and Belitung in Indonesia under TAUZIA’s FOX and Vertu brands respectively.

The company shared that it has secured a total of over 10,600 units to date this year, twice compared to the same period last year, and has reached more than 112,000 units in over 700 properties, on track to meet its global target of 160,000 units by 2023.