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Starwood Capital (CEO Barry S. Sternlicht, left) and billionaire Guo Guangchang’s Fosun International have joined Blackstone and Gaw in weighing bids for Ascendas Hospitality Trust, a Singapore-based hotel REIT valued at $588M.
Sources told Bloomberg that Starwood and Fosun could put up offers for the company as early as the end of January. Ascendas shares jumped 7.1% on the news in their biggest gain since July 2012, Bloomberg reports.
An Ascendas buyout would add to the $8.9B in buys of Singapore real estate companies over the past year. The weak Australian dollar and booming tourism boosts interest in Aussie hotels, something Singapore’s real estate giants own sizable chunks of.
CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific director Akshay Kulkarni says of Australian hotels, “All the boxes are ticked from an investment perspective with steady growth in returns, capital appreciation and safety of investments.” [Bloomberg]
