Jollibee, DoubleDragon create largest REIT in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoons Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar “Injap” Sia II have partnered once again to create the largest real estate investment trust (REIT) in the country, the CentralHub Industrial Centers Inc. which plans to list in the market in 2022.

CentralHub is an industrial real estate company with a portfolio of industrial warehouse complexes suited for different warehouse needs including commissary, cold storage facility and logistics distribution center.

As part of the partnership, DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and its industrial leasing subsidiary, CentralHub signed a P3.97 billion agreement wherein Jollibee Foods Corp. will acquire common shares of CentralHub and infuse 16.4 hectares of industrial properties currently utilized as its commissaries.

The portfolio of industrial properties that will be infused into CentralHub includes the largest operating commissary of Jollibee.

As a result of Jollibee’s asset infusion, the total industrial land portfolio of CentralHub will grow to 39.8 hectares.

“We are excited to work together with Jollibee in developing CentralHub into the largest landlord of industrial warehouses in the country. We see CentralHub to become a major recurring income contributor to DoubleDragon,” said Sia, chairman of DoubleDragon.

Jollibee will use certain parcels of its land properties worth about P2 billion and P1.9 billion in cash, as investments in CentralHub.

Tan Caktiong said this would enable Jollibee to reduce assets tied to real estate properties by converting some of them into securities in REIT and by selling others directly to third parties.

“We will use the proceeds from the eventual IPO of CentralHub to finance real estate investments for our new stores and commissaries which we will convert again into more investments and shares in the REIT,” he said.

Tan Caktiong said the REIT would help continuously finance Jollibee’s future expansion and allow more public investors to buy more REIT shares.

The CentralHub will have its own property and fund managers who are separate from JFC.

This will allow JFC to focus on growing its core business in food service, restaurant operations and food processing.

“We will continue to focus on our core business. We are also very pleased to be a contributor to the growth of the economy, the real estate industry and the capital markets through our investments in the REIT,” Tan Caktiong said.

Sia and Tan Caktiong are also partners in DoubleDragon.