DoubleDragon still pushing for industrial REIT

DoubleDragon [DD 11.04 ?1.3%] [link] said that it has completed the construction of a 5-hectare CentralHub warehouse complex in Cebu. The property company of Edgar Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong said the project brings its total gross floor area to 1.5 million square meters, which is a “milestone” that is in line with DD’s goal of establishing a P24.8-billion warehouse leasing portfolio and listing the Philippines’ first-ever industrial REIT. CentralHub is a joint venture between DD and Jollibee [JFC 227.00 ?0.4%]. 

  MB BOTTOM-LINE:  As someone who has been searching for a dedicated cold chain and logistics play that I could invest in, I probably don’t need to tell you that I think CentralHub is a gem. That part (to me) is indisputable. DD seemed to think so, too, since they used a huge percentage of the proceeds from the DDMPR IPO on CentralHub. I’ve made a lot of noise in the past (even last week) about how badly the DD team has neglected DDMP [DDMPR 1.07 unch] shareholders, and that this focus on CentralHub, combined with their seeming refusal to inject CentralHub assets into DDMPR, just rubs salt in those deep wounds of neglect. While I still think that the DD team has basically abandoned DDMPR shareholders, I don’t want to see these prime CentralHub assets in DDMPR just to make DDMPR better. The DD team has plenty of retail assets in its CityMall portfolio that are actually better suited to blend with DDMPR’s existing portfolio. So, DD team, when are you going to actually do it? When are you going to list this industrial REIT? There’s been plenty of action in the cold storage and logistics space recently. The valuations are great. The trends are great. Don’t overbake this thing like Globe is doing to GCash. Let investors get involved before it becomes too heavy.

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