Frasers Unit Plans 10 Service Apartments In China

Source : The Straits Times, 20 September 2007

FRASERS Hospitality is set to open 10 new service residences in China by 2009.
Half of them will be ready before the Beijing Olympics next year, the Singapore-based service apartment operator said in a statement yesterday.

The company, a subsidiary of Frasers Centrepoint, will invest US$130 million (S$197 million) in one of the properties. The 23-storey building will be located in the heart of Beijing's Central Business District, and boast 357 units.

Frasers bought the property in June and will open it in April as Fraser Suites Beijing, said Frasers Hospitality chief executive Choe Peng Sum.

The other nine residences will be managed by Frasers but owned by other companies, including property developer Yanlord Land Group, global private equity firm The Carlyle Group, and Chinese food company Cofco.

Besides Beijing, the 10 new service apartment properties will be located in the cities of Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

Two will open in November, one each in Beijing and Nanjing. Three more will open next year before the Olympics: Frasers Suites Beijing and two others in Shanghai.

Frasers already operates two properties in Shenzhen.

'We will have more than 12 properties under the Fraser brand as we are still actively pursuing other suitable properties in China,' said Mr Choe in the statement.

'We expect that by 2010, Frasers will be operating more than 4,000 service residence units in over a dozen cities across China.'

Frasers is also talking to property owners in secondary cities like Chongqing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Xian.