DoubleDragon sets Asian roadshow

Property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. is set to embark on an Asian roadshow to pitch to foreign institutional investors its $150-million follow-on equity offering, the last major capital market exercise needed to support its aspiration to be the next blue chip in the local property scene.

DoubleDragon is looking to sell roughly 70 percent of shares under this re-initial public offering (re-IPO) to foreign investors, company chair Edgar Sia II said in an interview.

The company hopes to obtain approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange this month so that the offering period and listing could be undertaken by November, assuming the best case scenario, Sia said.

DoubleDragon is set to conduct a series of overseas roadshows in Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur for the offering, Sia said.

The property developer has mandated investment houses Credit Suisse, Maybank Kim Eng and UBS to be the international underwriters and bookrunners while BPI Capital Corp. and Maybank ATR Kim Eng have been appointed domestic lead underwriters and bookrunners.

DoubleDragon seeks to offer up to 150 million in common shares at an offer price of up to P50 each. The base offer will consist of 135 million new common shares plus an overallotment option to sell up to 15 million additional shares in case of strong demand.

Three years after selling shares mostly to local retail investors, Sia said this would allow foreign international investors to take part in DoubleDragon’s growth phase.

Even if DoubleDragon were to sell up to 70 percent of follow-on shares to foreign investors, Sia said the company’s foreign ownership would still not exceed 10 percent.

Apart from supplementing funds for its expansion program, the exercise is also seen to widen DoubleDragon’s trading liquidity in line with its aspiration to be part of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) in the coming years. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA