DoubleDragon prices retail bond offer

DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. on Thursday said it has finalized the interest rate for its latest sale of pesodenominated debt, which has seen strong demand.

In a statement, the property firm said it will pay a coupon rate of 6.0952% for its sevenyear fixed rate retail bonds, which will have a base size of P6.5 billion with an oversubscription option of P3.2 billion.

“Due to strong demand for the Retail Bonds, the coupon rate was set at the bottom- end of the pricing range,” DoubleDragon

This is the second tranche of the P15-billion retail bonds under shelf registration approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2016. The first tranche amounting to P5.3 billion was issued last December.

Upon receiving the permit to sell from the Securities and Exchange Commission, DoubleDragon will start offering the bonds from July 7-13. The retail bonds are scheduled to be issued on July 21.

DoubleDragon has tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners, Inc., and BPI Capital Corp. as the joint lead underwriters of the offer.

The bond offer was assigned a PRS Aa rating by Philippine Rating Services Corp., the second highest rating category in the local debt watcher’s existing credit rating scale. This indicates that the obligations are of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

Philratings further assigned a positive outlook on the DoubleDragon’s credit rating for the debt offer, which signifies that the present rating has a potential to be upgraded in the next 12 months.

DoubleDragon has earmarked the proceeds from the offer for its expansion, which includes the development of community mall chain CityMalls, DD Meridian Park in Pasay City and Jollibee Tower in Ortigas Center. The projects would allow the developer’s leasable portfolio to reach a total of one million square meter by 2020.

In the next three months alone, the company said it will be opening 10 more CityMalls across the country, on track to have at least 30 malls operational by yearend.

DoubleDragon posted a net income of P165.7 million in the first three months of 2017, soaring 280% year on year on the back of consolidated revenues of P649 million. The company attributed the growth to real estate sales which jumped 66% to P400 million, as well as the 129% rise in rental income to P104.5 million.

Shares in DoubleDragon dropped by 45 centavos or 0.95% to close Thursday with P46.85 each. —