Ascot Resident Trust (ART), part of the CapitaLand, has divested two assets in China and France to unrelated third parties for a total of about S$191.4m (€117.3m).
The Singapore-listed property investor said it had sold the Ascott Guangzhou serviced apartment in China and Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris apartment hotel in France, giving the company a total estimated net gains of about S$23.2m upon completion of both transactions.
Ascott Guangzhou achieved a sale price of RMB780m (€95m), about 52% above the property’s book value and about 81% higher than the acquisition price in 2012.
ART divested Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris for €23.6m. It said the property had appreciated in value by about 60.4% since it was acquired in 2010.
Beh Siew Kim, CEO of the managers of ART, said: “Despite the COVID-19 situation, the opportunistic sale of Ascott Guangzhou and Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris at an attractive price allows ART to rejuvenate its portfolio.”
Beh said the company planned to deploy the proceeds to other higher-yielding assets for ART.
“The proceeds may also be used to pare down ART’s debt and reduce its gearing, as distribution to stapled security holders or for general corporate purposes,” she said.
Since 2019, the trust had unlocked more than S$200m in net gains from its portfolio, Beh added.
After the two sales, ART will have four assets in China and 16 remaining properties across France.
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