SEC OKs P14.7-B IPO of DoubleDragon REIT

MANILA, Philippines—The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a P14.7-billion initial public offering planned by DDMP REIT Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) sponsored by property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp.

“We just approved, at least at the level of the SEC the DoubleDragon REIT and we are expecting five more (listings) coming,” said SEC chair Emilio Aquino at a forum with the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) on Wednesday (Feb. 17).

DoubleDragon has infused the first six buildings in its single most valuable property portfolio—DD Meridian Park in Pasay City where the company’s headquarter office is and including the lot —into DDMP REIT which, in turn, will offer up to 6.54 billion worth of common shares to the stock market at P2.25 per share, according to the regulatory filing submitted to the SEC last November.

The base offer will consist of 5.94 billion common shares while 594.25 million common shares may be offered as over allotment.

This will mark the second REIT listing in the country after Ayala Land-sponsored AREIT Inc. raised the curtain for this new asset class in August 2020. Based on the maximum price, this could be bigger than AREIT’s P13.6 billion offering.

DDMP REIT has mandated Credit Suisse, DBS, Nomura & PNB Capital to act as joint global coordinators and joint book runners together with RCBC Capital, ICCP, Macquarie, Maybank Kim Eng and CIMB for the REIT IPO.

REIT is a corporation that primarily invests in income-generating real estate like office spaces, shopping malls, service apartments, and even hotels, hospitals and warehouses. It gives investors an opportunity to invest directly in finished projects rather than the developer itself. This was meant to attract dividend-seeking investors because the REIT law required the distribution of at least 90 percent of income as dividends annually.

TSB