DoubleDragon secures SEC nod for maiden offer

Corporate regulators have approved a plan of property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. to raise as much as P1.16 billion from an initial public offering (IPO).

DoubleDragon Properties is a joint venture between entrepreneur Edgar Sia II and Jollibee group founder Tony Tan Caktiong.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed DoubleDragon to register 579.73 million new shares which the company will offer to the public for as much as P2 a share, according to documents from the SEC. The Philippine Stock Exchange likewise approved DoubleDragon’s application to list on the bourse.

The company will hold an investors’ briefing on Monday for the IPO, where up to 26 percent of the company’s capital stock will go public.

Unicapital Inc. and RCBC Capital Inc. are the joint lead underwriters of the offering, which will run from March 26 to April 1. Listing has been set on April 7.

Excluding underwriting and other costs, net proceeds from the IPO are estimated at P1.03 billion. The company will use the proceeds to roll out a chain of community malls around the country. The target is to have 100 community malls by 2020, when DoubleDragon aims to join the ranks of the country’s leading property developers.

The proceeds may be enough to fund the development of the first five CityMalls, including the acquisition of land and predevelopment work.

CityMall, which the company intends to be its flagship project, is envisioned to become one of the largest independent community mall chain in the country. The establishments, each measuring 5,000 to 10,000 square meters, will be put up in prime locations all over the country, mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Ahead of the IPO, SM Investments Corp. of tycoon Henry Sy has acquired a 34 percent stake in DoubleDragon’s community shopping mall development unit CityMall Commercial Centers Inc. (CMCCI). DoubleDragon, however, will keep a 66-percent interest as well as management control.

DoubleDragon has already acquired a 12,654-square meter commercial property on Arnaldo Boulevard in Roxas City.

Apart from its retail property project, DoubleDragon also intends to complete three office towers over the next six years in Metro Manila’s business districts. The company aims to create a portfolio of office space for lease to corporate and business process outsourcing (BPO) tenants.

Based on SEC documents, DoubleDragon posted a net income of P122.1 million in 2013, higher than the P92.2 million of a year ago. Revenue last year amounted to P661.9 million, higher than the previous year’s P608.3 million.

The company has approved a dividend policy entitling stockholders to receive dividends equivalent to as much as 30 percent of the previous year’s net income subject to availability of unrestricted earnings, implementation of business plans, contractual obligations and working capital requirements.

DoubleDragon was previously known as Injap Land Corp. which started in 2009 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sia’s holding company Injap Investments Inc. Tan Caktiong’s HoneyStar Holdings later acquired 50 percent of the company, which thus became an equal venture and renamed DoubleDragon.

Sia founded the Mang Inasal grilled chicken franchise, of which 70 percent was sold to Tan Caktiong’s Jollibee Foods Corp. in 2010.