DoubleDragon eyes P7.5 B from follow-on shares offer

MANILA, Philippines -  DoubleDragon, the listed property and mall developer of Mang Inasal founder Edgar “Injap” Sia II and Jollibee Foods Corp. chairman Tony Tan Caktiong, is raising up to P7.5 billion through a follow-on-offering to fund its enhanced 2020 plan for the company.

Based on the new program, DoubleDragon is targeting a footprint of 1.2 million square meters, from one million previously, comprised of commercial retail, office space, hospitality and a new leg – industrial leasing.

For industrial leasing, the company is targeting 100,000 sqm of industrial space for lease by 2020, Sia said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.

Of the 100,000-sqm target, an initial 30,000 sqm would be located at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. The rest will be scattered in other parts of in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The industrial leasing space, which will be under DoubleDragon’s CentralHub Industrial Centers Inc., targets a wide array of sectors in need of industrial space – food companies, manufacturers, consumer goods and many more, Sia added.

The rest of the 1.2-million sqm will comprise of 700,000 sqm from 100 CityMalls; 300,000 sqm from its Metro Manila office projects DD Meridian Park and Jollibee Tower and 100,000 sqm from the planned 5,000 hotel rooms of Hotel 101 and JinJiang Inn Philippines.

With the enhanced 2020 plan, DoubleDragon has jacked up it net income target to P5.5 billion from P4.8 billion previously.

For the follow-on offering, Sia said this would allow the entry of a good base of institutional investors to further strengthen the position of the company in the international investment community and move it a step forward in its goal of being one of the blue chip stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange index in the near term.

“We hope within the next two years, that is our goal, we can be part of the index,” Sia said.

Of the P7.5 billion, about P4.8 billion would be used for industrial leasing and the hotel rooms. The rest would be for land banking purposes, he added.

Just recently, DoubleDragon completed a P9.7-billion offering of seven-year fixed rate retail bonds, which will complete its total capex requirements for all 100 CityMalls, DD Meridian Park and Jollibee Tower.

At present, DoubleDragon has 20 operational malls including 18 CityMalls, all of which are over 96 percent leased out on average.

Another 12 CityMalls are expected to open before the end of the year together with DoubleDragon Plaza that consists of a retail strip and four office towers.

DoubleDragon Plaza will add about 136,000 sqm of operational leasable space to the DoubleDragon portfolio by the end of the year.

DoubleDragon Plaza is only the first of four phases that will comprise the company’s flagship project DD Meridian Park in the Bay Area. Once fully completed, DD Meridian Park will deliver about 280,000 sqm of leasable space by 2020.