Double Dragon follow-on offer by yearend
DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. targets to issue its P7.5billion follow-on offering before the end of the year, which the company plans to offer to both domestic and foreign investors.
The listed property developer on Wednesday secured shareholders’ approval to proceed with the listing of 150 million common shares in order to enhance its trading liquidity and strengthen its balance sheet.
“Today it’s approved by the shareholders then tomorrow hopefully we’ll kick off with the underwriters, both foreign and local. After that we’ll schedule the road show and also start processing the regulatory approval in the SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) and PSE ( Philippine Stock Exchange),” Double- Dragon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edgar J. Sia II told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City.
DoubleDragon looks to increase its liquidity as part of efforts to become part of the PSE index (PSEi) in the next two years.
“Hopefully within the next two years we’ll be part of the index. Market cap(italization) okay na, so it’s just the liquidity. So far for the past two years, all our shareholders, I think, are 100% domestic retail... For the first time, we have foreign, so they can get the good strategic position,” Mr. Sia explained.
As of Aug. 30, DoubleDragon’s market capitalization stood at P99.11 billion.
Of the total offer size, P4.8 billion will be used to fund DoubleDragon’s expansion until 2020, particularly to add 100,000 square meters (sq.m.) of leasable industrial space and 5,000 hotel rooms. The company is currently following a 2020 vision that looks to hit 1.2 million in leasable space in the next three years.
The first building under DoubleDragon’s industrial segment will include 30,000 sq. m. of leasable space inside Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac. Located inside the Philippine Economic Zone Authority-accredited site, the six-hectare property will be developed in four phases, with the first phase offering 10,000 sq.m. slated to be ready by the end of the year.
Mr. Sia said the industrial park hopes to attract locators from different industries.
“Iba- iba, mostly for the fast food group. Big users of industrial spaces for commissary, cold storage and distribution centers, so the possible tenants are the fast food companies, the consumer good companies and manufacturing plants, and logistics companies,” he said.
Other industrial spaces will be spread out nationwide, with two in North Luzon, two in South Luzon, two in the Visayas, and two in Mindanao. The DoubleDragon founder noted they have so far purchased only one site for these planned projects.
DoubleDragon targets to increase its hotel portfolio to 5,000 rooms under Hotel 101 and JinJiang Inn brands by 2020. Earlier this month, the company announced plans to develop the P2.23-billion Hotel 101 in Davao, envisioned to be the one of the biggest hotels in Mindanao with 519 rooms.
The remaining proceeds of the offer will be used for the company’s land banking purposes beyond 2020.
DoubleDragon also reported a positive performance for its office leasing segment, with Jollibee Tower in Pasig City set to be completed by 2018. Four towers inside DD Meridian Park, a 4.75-hectare office and commercial block in the Bay Area, are also almost fully leased out.
“Almost all the Tower 1, one floor left. Tower 2 leased out fully. Tower 3, three floors na lang ang kailangan,” Mr. Sia said.
Out of the four towers, the second and third towers will be for online gaming firms, with the first allotted for corporate offices, and the fourth for outsourcing firms.
DoubleDragon booked a 110% growth in consolidated net income for the second quarter of 2017 to P210.7 million, bringing its first half earnings to P376.4 million, 161% up year on year. The increase comes on the back of its efforts to boost the company’s source of recurring revenues.
Shares in DoubleDragon lost 0.45% or 1.01% to P44 each on Wednesday.