Ascott to buy serviced apartment company from Mapletree Investments

Ascott to buy serviced apartment company from Mapletree Investments
Oakwood Premier Coex Center Seoul Image: CapitaLand

Singapore-based CapitaLand Investment announced Monday that its wholly owned lodging business unit The Ascott is acquiring Oakwood Worldwide, a premier global serviced apartment provider, from Mapletree Investments.

CapitaLand said the acquisition increases Ascott’s global portfolio by 81 properties and about 15,000 units.

Oakwood’s approximately 8,500 operational units are expected to immediately contribute to Ascott’s recurring fee income streams upon completion of the transaction slated in 3Q 2022, the company said.

Ascott’s acquisition of Oakwood will leapfrog Ascott’s global presence to more than 150,000 units in about 900 properties across over 200 cities in 39 countries.

It will add new markets which include Cheongju in South Korea; Zhangjiakou and Qingdao in China; Dhaka in Bangladesh as well as Washington D.C. in the United States of America (USA).

Kevin Goh, CLI’s Chief Executive Officer for Lodging, said: “This acquisition of Oakwood is part of Ascott’s roadmap to playing a bigger role in the lodging market. There are significant synergies between Ascott and Oakwood, given our complementary footprint and product offerings. We intend to build on the strong reputation and heritage of the Oakwood brand, especially in markets across Southeast Asia, North Asia and North America. Oakwood will continue to grow alongside Ascott’s current portfolio of global brands as we continue to build growth momentum for our lodging business. We will be able to leverage Ascott’s extensive expertise as a global lodging player to deliver greater value to our expanded network of loyal customers and property owners.”

“Besides strategic alignment, this acquisition is also notable to Ascott commercially. Ascott’s acquisition of Oakwood brings about an immediate boost to our units under management and franchise contracts. The Oakwood portfolio will accelerate the growth of our asset-light business, with added recurring fee income streams, expanded lodging offerings and increased customer base. The strategic moves we have made in the last few years, such as our investments in Quest, Synergy and TAUZIA have charted an unprecedented growth path for Ascott,” added Goh.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1962, Oakwood is a global serviced apartment provider with a presence in more than 15 countries.

The company pioneered and established its reputation in the USA as the premier provider of corporate housing, before developing expertise as a hospitality company with more than 80 branded properties under its management internationally.