THE Ascott Group, the serviced residence arm of Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd, one of the largest listed real estate firms in Asia, said it will sell a golf course property to the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government for one billion yuan (US$128.2 million) to make way for the construction of the Guangzhou-Wuhan railway.

Under an agreement signed with the Land Requisition Office of the Guangzhou Municipality, the land, the building assets and ancillary facilities of The Masters Golf & Country Club will all be acquired by the provincial government.

Located in Liwan district, the golf club, developed in the mid 1990s, has an 18-hole course covering 934,498 square meters with a 64-bay driving range, a 6,000-square-meter club house and staff accommodation.

Ascott has been operating in China for the past 10 years and remains committed to building a stronger presence for its core business of serviced apartments.

The company, which currently has about 4,000 serviced apartments in eight cities, said it plans to increase its portfolio to 10,000 units in China by 2010, according to Cameron Wang, managing director and chief executive officer of The Ascott Group.

Headquartered in Singapore, Ascott, which operates three brands - Ascott, Somerset and Citadines - is the largest international serviced residence owner-operator outside the United States.

Source:佚名