DoubleDragon unit nears Nasdaq listing

DOUBLEDRAGON Corp.’s hotel subsidiary, Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd., plans to sign a deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) by next month for its planned listing on the Nasdaq stock market.

The property firm, in a disclosure on Thursday, said Hotel101 had reserved the ticker symbol “HBNB.”

The listing was said to be aligned with the Singapore-based subsidiary’s plan to increase its equity capital base and expand its footprint abroad, as well as strengthen DoubleDragon’s consolidated balance sheet.

“DoubleDragon expects Hotel101 Global to very soon become the very first Filipino company to list via SPAC [on Nasdaq] and [is] seen to become one of the major brands, concepts, and business model exports of the Philippines,” it said.

Hotel101 Global’s first three overseas projects are located in Hokkaido, Japan; Madrid, Spain; and Los Angeles, California.

These sites are expected to boost the hotel subsidiary’s efforts to become a “global brand with a truly unique business concept that can be planted in over 100 countries,” DoubleDragon said.

“The opportunity that we see globally in the hospitality space is that of standardization because we believe it brings unbeatable efficiency, especially for the mid-end segment,” said company Chairman Edgar Injap Sia 2nd.

“Take, for example, the budget airline industry — essentially all budget airlines sell one product across the whole industry, and that product is the economy seat,” he added.

DoubleDragon said most of its subsidiary’s strategic expansion plans would likely be through a joint venture with developers abroad or licensing deals.

Hotel101 aims to derive more than 95 percent of its revenues outside the Philippines and remains committed to accumulating a portfolio of 1.0 million keys before 2050, its parent firm said.

DoubleDragon shares on Thursday rose by 45 centavos, or 5.84 percent, to P8.15 each amid a 0.29-percent advance in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.