The company, led by tycoons Edgar “Injap” Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong, approved the long-term registration of bonds, to be issued annually starting 2024.
Sia, the chair and CEO of DoubleDragon, said the first tranche will be worth up to P10 billion, and the issuance is “expected to be by end of November” this year.
“Most likely they will be in parallel with the $2.3-B (P130 Billion) Hotel101 Global US listing,” he told InsiderPH.
Lucky year
Sia and Tan Caktiong, both born in the Year of the Dragon but a generation apart, view 2024 as an auspicious time for bold market moves.
The timing also coincides with the Year of the Dragon and the decline in interest rates, which is favorable for the stock market.
For extra luck, the bond program was approved on Oct. 8, “an auspicious number related to the recently issued retail bonds”, the developer said.
Target bond rates
Due to the ongoing monetary easing by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, DoubleDragon expects to price its 2024 bonds at 8 percent per annum.
It anticipates rates to go down to 7 percent in 2025 and 6 percent in 2026.
“The proceeds from the bond program will be used to enhance DoubleDragon’s financial resources and increase its cash reserves as it expects the company to become a Tier 1 company by 2025,” he said.
What is a Tier 1 company?
This means that DoubleDragon is reaching a level of business maturity where revenue generation becomes optimal while the company scales back on heavy spending for expansion, boosting profit growth.
Hotel101 to fuel growth overseas
DoubleDragon controls investment properties, spread across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The upcoming US listing of Hotel101 Global is expected to further boost its balance sheet.
The company envisions operating one million rooms across over 100 countries, with 25 priority countries identified for expansion. Its first three overseas locations are Japan (Niseko), Spain (Madrid), and the United States (Los Angeles).
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
