By DPA,
Singapore : Driven by rising corporate demand, Asia’s second biggest serviced-apartment operator, Frasers Hospitality (Frasers) is looking at India, China and Vietnam as areas of expansion, the firm said Friday.
The firm expects to add 5,000 apartments under the Frasers brand in the next two years, boosting the total to 8,500 by 2010.
Frasers, the hospitality arm of Frasers Centrepoint, is looking at more collaborations with private equity funds to acquire serviced apartments, The Business Times said.
“We’ve seen a lot of pent-up demand,” chief executive officer Choe Peng Sum was quoted as saying.
He noted multinational corporations have been sending teams overseas to set up new operations, and serviced apartments are positioned to meet expatriates’ needs.
Although the number of serviced residences in cities such as London and Tokyo amount to barely 10 percent of total hotel inventory, Choe said Frasers has seen annual growth rates of about 26 percent in Singapore.
Frasers is sourcing for deals in New York, he told the newspaper, and falling property prices are generating investment opportunities in Vietnam.
The firm is also looking to create a separate brand of serviced residences to cater to a more dynamic group of corporate guests, Choe said.