Mapletree has entered into a joint venture partnership that could see it jointly acquire and develop up to $4 billion of corporate and serviced apartments around the world.
The Singapore-based property company with S$24.6 billion (€14.15 billion; $19.62 billion) of assets on its books announced today it had partnered with Oakwood Worldwide, a Los Angeles-based provider of serviced accommodation for the venture.
As part of the tie-up, Mapletree has acquired a 49 percent stake in Oakwood Asia Pacific, Oakwood’s business in Asia. Beyond its initial investment Mapletree will be able to acquire additional interests in Oakwood’s businesses at a later stage. It was not disclosed how much equity would be invested at this stage.
The partners intend initially to open more than 100 properties around the world over the next five years. In the announcement, the partners said they would draw on Mapletree’s reach in Asia and Oakwood’s in Europe and North America to more than triple the number of branded Oakwood buildings globally.
Mapletree’s group chief executive officer, Hiew Yoon Khong, said: “This joint venture is an important step for us in our next five-year strategic growth plan. The joint venture will help Mapletree build our operational capability in the corporate and serviced apartments sector. This sector is another key asset class which we are confident of building into a world class platform with Oakwood as a partner.”
“Oakwood’s ability to deliver consistent and exemplary customer service made this joint venture very attractive for us. This joint venture will bring together two companies with different but complementary areas of expertise – Oakwood, with its experience and track record in operating corporate and serviced apartments, and Mapletree, a group with deep real estate knowledge and expertise, as well as network and deal access in Asia. I believe that the strengths of the two groups will see the Oakwood brand continuing to be the top-rated corporate and serviced apartment operator worldwide.”
The venture was brokered by Goldman Sachs, the investment bank.
Mapletree is one of Asia’s largest investment managers and holds assets across the real estate asset classes via vehicles including private funds and public REITs. It made headlines last year when it raised the largest blind-pool, closed-ended, opportunistic real estate fund for China with $1.4 billion of commitments.
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