DoubleDragon to offer P9.7-B retail bonds
To fund plans of building more community malls and other commercial assets, property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. is seeking to raise as much as P9.7 billion from a new offering of seven-year bonds to retail investors.
DoubleDragon has priced the coupon rate for the peso-denominated fixed retail bonds at a yield of 6.0952 percent per annum.
The firm will offer a total of P6.5 billion, but it has an option to issue an additional P3.2 billion in case of oversubscription.
The offer period for the retail bonds will run from July 7 to July 13, and is now awaiting a permit to sell securities from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The retail bonds would subsequently be issued on July 21, DoubleDragon chief information officer Joselito Barrera, Jr. said in a press statement.
The bond issuance is the second tranche to be offered from DoubleDragon’s P15-billion shelf-registered retail bond approved by the SEC last year, Barrera said. The first tranche amounting to P5.3 billion was issued last Dec. 15.
The first tranche carried a credit rating of “PRS Aa” by the Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings).
Bonds for the second tranche due in 2024 were also assigned a credit rating of “PRS Aa” by PhilRatings.
The “PRS Aa” rating given by PhilRatings means that the debt papers are of high quality and subject to very low credit risk. PRS Aa is the second highest category on the PhilRating’s existing credit rating scale.
In addition, PhilRatings has also assigned a “positive” outlook to Double Dragon’s credit rating for this proposed debt issue. This means that the firm’s status can potentially be upgraded in the next 12 months.
“DoubleDragon is gearing up to become one of the most relevant companies in the Philippines and aims to accumulate a total of one million square meters (sqm) of prime leasable space by 20 20,” Barrera said.
The company expects the expansion to provide strong recurring revenues backed by assets located in commercial areas across the country.
Joint lead underwriters of the offering are BDO Capital and Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc., and BPI Capital Corp. —ODELINNE JAN LINA
