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“The opportunistic sale of Ascott Guangzhou and Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris at an attractive price allows ART to rejuvenate its portfolio and unlock the strong underlying value of these properties,” said Beh Siew Kim, Chief Executive Officer of ART’s managers.
Ascott Residence Trust (ART) has agreed to sell Ascott Guangzhou in China as well as Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris in France to two unrelated third parties for a total of around $191.4 million.
Ascott Guangzhou has a divestment price of RMB780 million (S$155 million), which is about 52% above the book value of the property and about 81% higher than its acquisition price in 2012.
ART is expected to realise estimated net gains of around $19.4 million when the transaction is completed in Q1 2021.
Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris, on the other hand, carries a divestment price of EUR23.6 million (S$36.4 million), which is around 69% above the book value of the property and around 60.4% higher than its acquisition price in 2010.
ART is expected to realise estimated net gains of around $3.8 million once the transaction is completed in Q4 2020.
“Despite the COVID-19 situation, the opportunistic sale of Ascott Guangzhou and Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris at an attractive price allows ART to rejuvenate its portfolio and unlock the strong underlying value of these properties,” said Beh Siew Kim, Chief Executive Officer of ART’s managers.
“We will look out for opportunities to deploy the proceeds to other higher yielding assets for ART. The proceeds may also be used to pare down ART’s debt and reduce its gearing, as distribution to stapled security holders, or for general corporate purposes.”
The 207-unit Ascott Guangzhou was acquired for RMB431 million (S$85 million) from The Ascott Limited in 2012.
The 80-unit Citadines Didot Montparnasse Paris was among the 28 properties acquired by ART in 2010 from The Ascott Limited for a total amount of $1.39 billion.
ART has six other properties in China and 16 other properties in France.
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg