04
Ascott Residence Trust
Annual Report 2015
Message to Unitholders
Left
Lim Jit Poh
Chairman
Right
Tay Boon Hwee, Ronald
Chief Executive Officer
2015 was a year of
unprecedented growth and
expansion for Ascott Reit.
As the world’s first Pan-Asian
serviced residence REIT to
list on SGX-ST, Ascott Reit
has, over the last decade,
successfully transformed itself
into a global platform through
a series of acquisitions.
Dear Unitholders,
Singapore and Singaporeans mourned the passing
of our Founding Father and First Prime Minister
Mr Lee Kuan Yew on 23 March 2015. Corporate
Singapore owes a great deal of gratitude to Mr Lee
for leading it to develop a ‘second wing’ in the 1990s
where Singaporean firms were encouraged to venture
abroad. Ascott Residence Trust’s (Ascott Reit or the
Group) expansion globally serves as a reminder of its
achievements and Mr Lee’s far-sighted thinking for
the nation.
2015 was a year of unprecedented growth and
expansion for Ascott Reit. As the world’s first
Pan-Asian serviced residence Real Estate Investment
Trust (REIT) to list on the Singapore Exchange Securities
Trading Limited (SGX-ST), Ascott Reit has, over the
last decade, successfully transformed itself into a
global platform through a series of acquisitions. As at
31 December 2015, Ascott Reit’s portfolio comprised
11,298 apartment units in 89 properties in 38 cities
across 14 countries in the Americas, Asia Pacific and
Europe, making it the most geographically diversified
and largest hospitality REIT listed on SGX-ST by asset
size and market capitalisation.
Expanding Strategically, Growing Globally
In its quest to achieve the target portfolio size of
S$6.0 billion by 2017, Ascott Reit has continued its
rapid expansion plan. In 2015, it acquired properties
worth S$609.1 million to reach a total asset value
of S$4.7 billion as at 31 December 2015, giving a
compound annual growth rate of 17.8% since its initial
listing in March 2006. For 2015, Ascott Reit acquired
six properties across Australia, Japan and the United
States of America (US), as well as the remaining stakes
in two existing serviced residence properties in Japan.
