Ascott buys serviced residences in Paris and Tokyo for €98m

The Ascott Limited, Singapore-based CapitaLand’s serviced residence business, has acquired two properties in Paris and Tokyo for $104 mln (€97.5 mln) for a fund with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

The fund will invest a further $33 mln in converting the 70-unit Citadines Suites Champs-Élysées Paris, due to open in 2018, into a luxury service residence and repositioning the serviced residence in Tokyo.

The five-storey Citadines Suites Champs-Élysées, located in Paris’s eight arrondissement, is the former home of cognac distillers the Hennessy family and will contain facilities including a restaurant, lounge and fitness centre.

The Somerset Shinagawa Tokyo is currently a 50-unit serviced residence in the high-end residential district of Takanawa, five minutes’ walk from Shinagawa Station. The renovation is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Lee Chee Koon, CEO of Ascott, said: ‘As we gear up to achieve Ascott’s expansion target of 80,000 units worldwide by 2020, the fund provides the financial boost to support our acquisitions and growth. With the first right to manage properties acquired by the fund, we will be able to increase Ascott’s fee-based income.

‘Ascott will continue to build up scale by working with strong capital partners and we will seek investment opportunities in gateway cities. This year, we have added more than 6,000 serviced residence units to our portfolio with over 30 management contracts. Besides investments and management contracts, we will also seek more strategic alliances and franchises to expand Ascott’s presence globally.’

The latest acquisitions bring The Ascott Limited’s total portfolio to 43,000 units in 270 properties. The $600 mln serviced residence global fund was established in July 2015 in a 50:50 joint venture with QIA to invest in serviced residences and rental housing properties with an initial focus on Asia Pacific and Europe.