Following its investment in Quest Apartment Hotels earlier this month to become the largest serviced residence provider in Australasia, the Ascott has now turned its sights to the Americas where it will acquire an 80 per cent stake in Synergy Global Housing for US$33.7 million to expand its portfolio from over 1,000 units to about 3,000 units in the US.
Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Synergy has a strong foothold in the US where it leases apartments from partners and property owners to rent to corporate clients, in addition to Global Solution Centres in Dublin, Hyderabad and Singapore.
Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s CEO, said: “The US is Ascott’s third largest source market for guests. This acquisition will give us direct access to Synergy’s corporate customers in the US that include world-renowned technology brands in the Bay Area and beyond. In addition to providing Ascott’s corporate customers with more accommodation options in the US, we will also be able to immediately fulfill demand from Synergy’s corporate customers when they require accommodation outside of the country.
“The US is a key market for Ascott and we see potential for us to expand further in cities such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC,” he added.
Having been a partner of Synergy to cross-sell units since 2013, Lee believes that taking up a majority stake in Synergy will expand Ascott’s global cross-selling and distribution network as well as enlarge its talent pool.
Said Lee: “Ascott will also get an uplift by over 2,000 units located predominantly in the US and increase our global portfolio to close to 70,000 units. We are confident of surpassing our target of 80,000 units well ahead of 2020, as we look at more opportunities to grow through investments, management contracts, franchises and strategic alliances.”
