Tan Caktiong, Sia, Sy join forces for community malls

MANILA, Philippines - The brain child of Jollibee's Tony Tan Caktiong and Mang Inasal's Injap Sia will soon be available to investors at the Philippine Stock Exchange, as real estate developer DoubleDragon gets set to be the first initial public offering of the year. DoubleDragon is looking to raise a little over a billion pesos from its public listing, with the funds to be used for its foray into commercial and retail development - CityMall, which will focus on the Visayas and Mindanao market. Before the IPO, the Sy group got into the action first, buying a third of the CityMall development. Ed Francisco, president of BDO Capital and Investment, says they are looking to play a big role in the venture. "We came in quietly at the start and we hope to lend more to them. That's how confident we are in the Sia siblings," he said. The Sy group has been known to expand their ownership in ventures they are very confident in. It did so in converting a loan into equity in Atlas Mining in 2012. BDO has also given Phoenix Petroleum a P500 million loan that may be converted to equity in the fuel retailer down the road. Asked if he was comfortable with the SM group raising its interest in CityMall, Sia said: "I like how it is now, a third for us, a third for the Sy group, a third for Jollibee." "The main synergy with SM is their retail expertise," the CEO of DoubleDragon Properties added. Sia said DoubleDragon will need P6.35 billion to open his first five CityMall developments this year. He said he will get funding through the debt market a few months after his IPO. DoubleDragon's IPO price will be announced on March 21. The listing is set for April 7.