new delhi singaporebased ascott ltd today said it has bagged a contract to manage a serviced apartments project in gurgaon to be developed by real estate firm puri constructions at an investment of rs 300 crore ascott ltd the worlds largest international serviced residence owneroperator said this is the companys second project in gurgaon and eighth in india comprising over 1400 apartments it aims to expand presence in india and is looking for projects in the national capital mumbai and pune we are developing a serviced apartment project comprising 174 units near dwarka expressway we have given the management contract to ascott ltd puri constructions director arjun puri told reporters here the serviced apartments project part of 82 acre mixeduse project is expected to be operational by 2019 puri said the total investment of the serviced residence project would be about rs 300 crore excluding land and the same would be met through internal accruals the realty firm has decided not to sell these serviced residences and could look at the option of listing this property under real estate investment truts reits in future puri said commenting on the tieup ascotts chief corporate officer tony soh said we see strong growth potential for ascott in india our strategy for india is to expand in highgrowth cities where there is significant demand from internationalclass serviced residences from expatriates project teams and business travellers ascott ltd operates three brands ascott citadines and somerset its tie up with puri constructions is for somersetbranded serviced residences last year it had tied up with realty firm ireo to manage ascott branded serviced apartments in gurgaon for expansion in india soh said the company is looking for both the options of investments and management contracts we have already invested usd 250 million in india he added globally ascott ltd a subsidiary of realty firm capitaland ltd has over 24000 operating serviced residence units and over 11000 units are under construction taking the total to about 36000 units in over 200 properties