DoubleDragon pegs rate for P6.5-B retail bonds

MANILA, Philippines -  DoubleDragon Properties Corp. has set the coupon rate for its seven year peso retail bonds at 6.0952 percent.

Due to strong demand for the retail bonds, the coupon rate was set at the bottom-end of the pricing range.

Double Dragon will issue P6.5 billion worth of bonds with an option to issue an additional P3.2 billion via the oversubscription option.

The company will offer the bonds from July 7 to July 13, subject to the receipt of the permit to sell from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The retail bonds will mark the second tranche to be offered from DoubleDragon’s P15 billion shelf-registered retail bond approved by the SEC last year.

Similar to the company’s first tranche amounting to P5.3 billion issued last Dec. 15 local debt watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp.(PhilRatings) assigned an issue credit rating of PRS Aa to the latest round of retail bonds due 2024.

Obligations rated PRS Aa are of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk, according to PhilRatings.

The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong.

PRS Aa is the second highest rating category on PhilRatings’ existing credit rating scale.

The joint lead underwriters of the retail bonds are BDO Capital & Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners,and BPI Capital Corp.

DoubleDragon is gearing up to become one of the most relevant companies in the Philippines and aims to accumulate one million square meters of prime leasable space by 2020, which is expected to provide the company with strong recurring revenues backed by a string of appreciating hard assets located in commercial areas across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

 “In the next three months, we are set to open 10 more CityMalls across the country and we expect to have at least 30 operational CityMalls by the end of the year making CityMall the dominant community mall player in the Philippines,” said Sia, chairman and CEO of DoubleDragon.