SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Ascott Residence Trust (ART) on Monday (June 8) said it will be included in the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Real Estate Index Series (Global Developed Index) from June 22.

The index series is an international real estate investment index developed by FTSE Group in cooperation with the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (Nareit).

It is designed to track the performance of listed real estate companies and real estate investment trusts (Reits) worldwide.

Beh Siew Kim, chief executive of the managers of ART, said: "Our successful combination with Ascendas Hospitality Trust last year has boosted the scale of ART and enabled us to achieve ART's inclusion into the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Developed Index, which was one of the objectives of the combination."

She added that being part of this benchmark will raise ART's profile as the proxy hospitality trust in the Asia-Pacific, broaden its reach among global investors, and increase its trading liquidity.

"With an enlarged investor base, we will have greater financial capacity to further enhance ART's portfolio," Ms Beh said.

ART is a stapled group comprising Ascott Reit and Ascott Business Trust, and managers for both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Singapore-listed CapitaLand.

Stapled securities of ART closed flat at $1.05 on Friday.