SINGAPORE—CapitaLand's serviced residence business and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund have entered into a 50/50 joint venture to invest in serviced residences or rental housing properties, with an initial focus on Europe and Asia Pacific. The JV between CapitaLand's Ascott Ltd. and the Qatar Investment Authority is valued at US$600 million, representing Ascott's largest private equity fund to date.
“This tie-up with QIA is a good example of how we are proactively working with strong capital partners to build up scale,” says Lim Ming Yan, president and CEO of CapitaLand Ltd. With Ascott's newly established global serviced residence fund, CapitaLand now manages 17 real estate private equity funds and five REITs with assets under management of more than US$31.6 billion, he adds. The Ascott fund, Lim says, “brings us a step closer” toward the goal of raising five to six funds with total assets under management of approximately US$5.8 billion to US$7.3 billion by 2020.
The Ascott/QIA venture will invest in development, redevelopment and turnkey opportunities, and acquire suitable projects for asset enhancement, repositioning or conversion into serviced residences and rental housing properties. The investment and development will be financed by a combination of equity and external financing.
The fund will have exclusive rights over deals that are available to Ascott during the fund's investment period. Ascott will have the first right on managing the properties that the JV acquires.
Ascott currently manages a US$500 million Ascott China Fund that invests in serviced residences across China; the fund was fully invested by 2011 and has already divested six of its 11 assets. Ascott also manages a JPY12.6 billion (approximately US$102 million) ARC CapitaLand Residences Japan Fund that invests in rental housing properties in Japan.
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