Milbank successfully advised the international bookrunners and domestic underwriters in connection with the high-profile initial public offering (“IPO”) by DDMP REIT, Inc. (“DDMP”) on the Philippine Stock Exchange. DDMP’s offering, valued at ₱14.7 billion (US$302 million), successfully debuted on March 24, 2021, despite major market headwinds.
DDMP is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with a portfolio of six office towers owned by DoubleDragon Properties Corp., a leading publicly traded real estate development company in the Philippines. The international bookrunners for the transaction included Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited, DBS Bank Ltd., Nomura Singapore Limited, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd., Macquarie Capital Securities (Singapore) Pte. Limited and Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte. Ltd. Domestic underwriters included PNB Capital and Investment Corporation, Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines and RCBC Capital Corporation.
As the first IPO of 2021, DDMP starts a year in which offerings on the Philippine Stock Exchange are anticipated to show a significant increase from the prior year. The IPO is the second-ever REIT IPO in the country’s history, after the Philippine government eased tax and public ownership rules last year.
The Hong Kong-based Milbank deal team was led by Global Capital Markets partner James Grandolfo and included associates Ari Singzon and Abir Varma.
“REITs are an emerging asset class in the Philippines which present new and exciting investment opportunities for both domestic and international investors. We are thrilled to have advised on this transaction, which we hope will serve as a bellwether for activity on the Philippine Stock Exchange this year,” said Mr. Grandolfo.
