CapitaLand's Ascott expands in China

SINGAPORE -- Singapore-listed property major CapitaLand's wholly-owned service residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has secured contracts to manage three more properties in China, the company announced on Thursday.

The properties include the 250-unit Somerset Swan Lake Hefei, which is slated to open in 2017. It's the company's first serviced residence in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province in East China.

The other two properties are the 150-unit Ascott Nanbin Chongqing and 167-unit Somerset Software Park Xiamen, which are both slated to open in 2015.

Besides the three new properties, Ascott operates more than 9,000 apartment units in 51 properties across 20 cities in China, expanding its presence in the second largest economy.

Lee Chee Koon, Ascott's Chief Executive Officer, said the company is on track to achieve its target of 12,000 apartment units in China by 2015. He said "Ascott is the first international serviced residence operator in Hefei," and the new property in Hefei has expanded its global footprint to 81 cities globally.

"Besides first tier cities, we are also growing our presence in China's high growth cities such as Hefei, Chongqing and Xiamen where strong economic growth and foreign investment have generated a large demand for serviced residences," Kevin Goh, Ascott's Managing Director for North Asia, said.

CapitaLand realigned its operations into the four main business units of CapitaLand Singapore, CapitaLand China, CapitaMalls Asia and the Ascott Limited, which is a serviced residence unit, after Lim Ming Yan took over as president and chief executive officer at the start of the year.

Lim once said that the company's business in China is underpinned by urbanization, growing affluence and increasing domestic consumption.