DoubleDragon Corp., the listed property developer partly owned by billionaire Edgar “Injap” Sia, is building up the portfolio of unit CentralHub—landlord of various warehouse complexes across the country—in preparation for its initial public offering as the first Philippine industrial real estate investment trust.
DoubleDragon said it aims to file IPO documents with securities regulators “as soon as the REIT capitalization rates go back to 5 percent to 6 percent levels.” The cap rate, which is the ratio of a REIT’s net operating income over its asset value, is a metric used by investors to determine its profitability as well as to compare valuation with other REITs.
Colliers, a diversified professional services and investment management company, estimated that in the second quarter of 2023 the cap rates in Manila for industrial properties is a low of 8 percent and a high of 10 percent.
CentralHub already built 6 industrial warehouse complexes, and is developing several more in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Its portfolio now covers 605,732 square meters of industrial assets and continues to build a leasing portfolio of P24.8 billion.
It is expected to complete the first and second phase of a project in Negros Occidental over the next two years. The warehouse complex spans 10 hectares located near Silay International Airport. The Negros Occidental complex will add about 74,000 square meters of leasable space to CentralHub’s portfolio.
DoubleDragon said it recently leased CentralHub-Cebu Danao warehouse complex covering 44,601square meters.
The CentralHub network of industrial warehouse complexes are suited, among others, for use as commissary, cold storage facility, and logistics distribution center. DoubleDragon said it aims to build at least one CentralHub complex in each of the 82 provinces.
