Frasers Hospitality signs 10 New Serviced Residences in China

Frasers Hospitality is to open 10 new gold standard serviced residences across China by 2009; five of them before the Beijing Olympics.

Of these, nine are management contracts with owners that include Yanlord, global private equity firm Carlyle, and COFCO, one of China's largest importers, manufacturers and exporters of food. The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Frasers Centrepoint Ltd, itself will invest a total of US$130 million in a prime property at the heart of Beijing¹s Central Business District.

The 23-storey building was purchased in June and will open as Fraser Suites Beijing in April 2008 with 357 luxurious serviced residences. The building was purchased from Chinese conglomerate COSCO, a Fortune Global 500 company.

Frasers already operates two properties in Shenzhen. The 10 new serviced residences will be in Nanjing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

"China is, simply, the biggest growth engine for the whole world economy," said Frasers' chief executive officer Mr Choe Peng Sum. "China's foreign direct investment grew 12% to US$31.9 billion in the first half of 2007; and its cumulative FDI since the start of its opening-up policy in 1978 is a stunning US$750 billion. This basically means lots of potential for our industry and for our brand."

Frasers Hospitality, a Singapore-based global brand of gold-standard serviced residences, targets business executives on medium- to long-term business projects.

Of the 10 new properties, two will open for business in November: Fraser Residence CBD East in Beijing with 228 apartments, and Fraser Suites Nanjing with 210 units. Fraser Residence CBD East is owned by global private equity firm Carlyle, and Fraser Suites Nanjing by Yanlord Land, the Singapore-listed company renowned for luxurious residence projects in China.

Three more properties are slated to be in operation next year before the Beijing Olympics: Fraser Suites Top Glory in Shanghai, with 317 apartments; Fraser Residence Xintiandi also in Shanghai with 278 apartments; and Fraser Suites Beijing.

The rest will be open by 2009: in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Tianjin; Chengdu and one more in Shanghai.

"Of course, we will have more than 12 properties under the Fraser brand as we are still actively pursuing other suitable properties in China. In fact, we expect that by 2010, Frasers will be operating more than 4,000 serviced residences in over a dozen cities across China," Mr Choe said.

Besides Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjin. Frasers is also talking to property owners in other key gateway cities like Dalian, Suzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Wuxi.

"We have strict criteria for the buildings that become a Fraser Suites, Fraser Place or Fraser Residence. Whether one-bedroom apartments or three-bedroom penthouses, all Fraser serviced residences provide generous living spaces and modern amenities including fully-fitted kitchens, entertainment facilities like TV and sound systems, as well as Broadband Internet access."

The Fraser brand made its appearance in China in 2002 with Fraser Place Shekou, which has 232 apartments. It added Fraser Residence Futian with 165 apartments in 2004. Both these properties are in Shenzhen and owned by China Merchants, a huge trading group.

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