CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has secured contracts to manage three more properties, adding 567 apartment units in China, including its first serviced residence in Hefei. The 250-unit Somerset Swan Lake Hefei is slated to open in 2017 while the 150-unit Ascott Nanbin Chongqing and 167-unit Somerset Software Park Xiamen are both slated to open in 2015.

The three new properties will further strengthen Ascott’s leadership position as the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in China with more than 9,000 apartment units in 51 properties across 20 cities.

Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “China is our key market and we are growing rapidly through management contracts, investments and strategic alliances. We are on track to achieve our target of 12,000 apartment units in China by 2015. Hefei, the capital and economic centre of Anhui Province, is one of the world’s fastest growing metropolitan economies. Its economy and foreign direct investment grew respectively by an average of 16% and 11% annually in the last five years. Ascott is the first international serviced residence operator in Hefei. Ascott has so far entered six cities in 2013 – Hefei, Nanjing and Wuxi in China, Gurgaon in India, and Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Our global portfolio has expanded to over 32,000 apartment units in 81 cities.”

Mr Kevin Goh, Ascott’s Managing Director for North Asia, said: “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. We recently acquired a prime property in Hong Kong and this year we have also clinched contracts to manage eight properties adding more than 1,200 apartment units in China. With excellent locations and Ascott’s award-winning hospitality, our new properties in Hefei, Chongqing and Xiamen will provide the warmth of home and cater to the different lifestyles of expatriates, travellers and their families.”