The Ascott Limited is an international lodging company owned by CapitaLand. It operates more than 700 properties in more than 30 countries. Its portfolio of serviced residence and hotel brands includes Ascott, Citadines, Citadines Connect, Somerset, Quest, The Crest Collection, lyf.
History
From 1984 to 2000, merger and acquisition activities involving real estate and hospitality players in Singapore led to the establishment of The Ascott Limited. The Scotts Holdings, a Singapore corporation with business interests in serviced apartments, shopping centres and property investments, opened Asia Pacific's first international-class serviced residence, The Ascott Singapore on 14 August 1984. Scotts Holdings was listed in 1991. In 1998, Pidemco Land- set up Somerset International, its new serviced residence arm. It acquired Liang Court Holdings, one of Asia's largest serviced residence operators, to form Somerset Holdings. Together, these two companies had a combined portfolio of 3,200 serviced residence units in 15 cities. Scotts Holdings merged with Stamford Group, the serviced residence arm of DBS Land to form The Ascott Limited, creating a joint portfolio of more than 1,700 units in eight cities.. Citadines merged with Orion, while Whitehall and Westmont later sold its tourist-oriented Orion serviced residences to focus on its business clientele. In 2001, The Ascott Limited was listed following the merger of Somerset Holdings and The Ascott Limited in 2000. In the following year, Ascott acquired a 50 percent stake in Citadines, which made it the largest international serviced residence operator outside of the US. In 2004, it acquired the remaining 50 percent interest in Citadines. In 2006, the company established the pan-Asian serviced residence real estate investment trust, the Ascott Residence Trust.
Ascott Residence Trust
Ascott Reit was established with the goal of investing mainly in real estate – related assets and real estate which are used or essentially used as rental housing properties, serviced residences and other hospitality assets which generates revenue. With 11,430 units and 73 properties, in 37 cities across 14 countries, Ascott Reit has a presence in regions such as the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The asset size of Ascott Reit has grown to S$5.2 billion, four times the amount since it was listed on the Singapore ExchangeSecurities Trading Limited in March 2006.. Ascott Reit clinched the "Best REIT " award by World Finance magazine at its Real Estate Awards in 2015.
