Singapore’s Ascendas Hospitality Trust (A-HTRUST) has acquired three hotels in Osaka for JPY10.29bn (€80m) to tap tourism growth in Japan’s third-largest city.
The acquisitions of Hotel WBF Kitasemba West and Hotel WBF Kitasemba East are expected to be completed by September 2018, and that for the third hotel, Hotel WBF Honmachi, by January 2019.
Tan Juay Hiang, chief executive of the managers, A-HTRUST, said the Osaka acquisitions “have kept up our acquisition momentum” after the trust’s recent entry into Seoul.
“Osaka is a key financial centre as well as a popular leisure destination, and inbound travel to the city has been on a strong growth trend,” he said. “Domestic travel has also been healthy over recent years.”
Tan said the group was confident that Osaka, as a gateway city, would continue to attract visitors across various segments.
He also noted that, since the group’s purchase of Sunroute Osaka Namba in 2014, the hotel’s valuation had doubled.
