DOUBLEDRAGON MAKES IT TO FTSE GLOBAL INDEX

Property developer DoubleDragon Properties yesterday debuted on the FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific (excluding Japan and China), boosting its visibility to global equity investors.

Shares of the company rose by 1.2 percent and closed at P10.12 per share on Monday, which was also its first day of trading as a component company of the FTSE Global Equity Index, a robust index framework used by many top equity investment fund managers globally.

“We are pleased to be included in one of the most reputable and recognized global equity indices in the world. This FTSE Global index inclusion will further inspire DoubleDragon to solidify the company’s fundamentals for the benefit of all its stakeholders,” DoubleDragon chair Edgar Sia II said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

Sia added, ”2021 is indeed a milestone year for DoubleDragon as, for the first time in its short history, DoubleDragon has significantly boosted both its cash and equity position with the recent P14.7-billion REIT (real estate investment trust) listing and the P3.97-billion CentralHub equity partnership with Jollibee.”

DoubleDragon and Jollibee inked a deal allowing the latter to infuse cash and assets, including its largest operating commissary, into Central Hub, a developer of industrial warehouses, which is planning its own listing by 2022.

By using the REIT structure, CentralHub will be able to recycle capital to put up more industrial warehousing facilities across the country.

“Because of the anticipated challenges this pandemic has brought, the DoubleDragon team has put even more importance in strengthening DoubleDragon’s balance sheet. Total equity at P61.03 billion is one of the highest among other listed companies of its incorporation age and profile. On the other hand, DoubleDragon’s net debt-to-equity ratio is among the lowest and healthiest with net debt-to-equity of only 0.58x,” said DoubleDragon chief investment officer Hannah Yulo-Luccini.

DoubleDragon is set to end 2021 with 1.2 million square meters (sqm) of gross floor area, making it part of a small roster of Philippine companies with a portfolio of property assets exceeding 1 million sqm.