Singapore Corporate News - 20 Sep 2007

Frasers to open 10 new China projects by 2009

FRASERS Hospitality said yesterday that it will open 10 new gold standard serviced residences across China by 2009, half of them before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The 10 new properties in Nanjing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing are part of the 23 new properties which Frasers said earlier this month it would open in the next 18 months.

Nine of them are properties in which Frasers will have management contracts with owners that include Yanlord, global private equity firm Carlyle, and COFCO, China's largest importer, manufacturer and exporter of food.

The tenth, in which Frasers itself will invest a total of US$130 million, is a prime property in Beijing's central business district.

Frasers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Frasers Centrepoint, already owns two properties in Shenzhen. Frasers Centrepoint in turn is fully owned by Fraser and Neave.

Frasers targets business executives on medium to long-term business projects.

It said it is still pursuing other properties in China and is talking to property owners in other key gateway cities like Dalian, Suzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Wuxi.

Apart from China, Frasers is also expanding in South-east Asia, the Middle East, Europe and India.

Frasers has about 19 properties in Europe, North Asia, the Middle East, South-east Asia and Australia.

Currently, overseas projects contribute to about 70 per cent of Frasers' earnings, which will increase over the next 18 months when the the 23 projects are rolled out.