DoubleDragon to issue P10B in preferred shares

PROPERTY developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. plans to raise up to P10 billion in fresh capital from an offering of nonvoting preferred shares by March or April next year.

DoubleDragon chief executive officer Edgar Sia II said in a chance interview last week that the company had submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement to offer to the public these preferred shares with a base size of P5 billion with an option to increase by another P5 billion.

The company is looking at a tenor of seven years for these preferred shares.

Sia said majority of the proceeds would be used for the following projects:

• to expand CityMalls, which will have a total of 30 malls on stream by the end of next year, mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao;

• to construct Meridian Park, a 4.8-hecatre office and commercial development at the corner of Macapagal Avenue and Edsa Extension near Mall of Asia which will contribute about 280,000 square meters of leasable space once fully developed (the first phase of which called DoubleDragon Plaza is now under construction and expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2017; and,

• Jollibee Tower, a 40-storey corporate building at the Ortigas central business district which will contribute about 47,000 square meters of leasable space and is expected to be completed by fourth quarter of 2018.

“DoubleDragon aims to derive 90 percent of its revenues from recurring sources by 2020 as all its both commercial and office leasing projects will be on stream,” Sia said.

Sia added that the company continued to work toward its goal of completing a total of one million square meters of total leasing portfolio covering different prime areas of the country, which in turn would allow DoubleDragon to achieve its target of hitting P4.8 billion in net profit by 2020.

“We are glad that the picture of DoubleDragon’s vision is getting clearer and clearer as we go forward, and also we are glad that DoubleDragon’s flagship project CityMall is also gaining good traction,” Sia said.