DoubleDragon Corp. now controls 98.6% of MerryMart Consumer Corp. after shareholders tendered into the voluntary offer at levels management did not publicly forecast. The Sia-Caktiong holding vehicle disclosed the final ownership figure following settlement this week, marking a 38.6 percentage-point increase from the 60% stake held before the offer launched in late Q4 2024. The tender closed without extension.
DoubleDragon paid ₱0.58 per share for the tendered block, valuing the acquired minority stake at approximately ₱2.1 billion. The offer price represented a 16% premium to MerryMart's thirty-day volume-weighted average prior to the announcement, though still 67% below the grocery chain's ₱1.76 IPO price from May 2020. MerryMart shares last traded at ₱0.54 before the Philippine Stock Exchange suspended the counter pending delisting procedures. The company operates 85 supermarket-format stores across Luzon and Visayas, with ₱28.3 billion in trailing twelve-month revenue as of September 2024.
The move prepares DoubleDragon to absorb MerryMart's cash flow without public-market disclosure requirements while simplifying the parent's retail architecture. MerryMart posted a ₱487 million net loss in the first nine months of 2024, pressured by store expansion costs and rising lease expenses tied to DoubleDragon's own CityMall landlord operations. The tender allows DoubleDragon to reallocate capital without minority resistance—the company has ₱18.6 billion in consolidated cash and is already funding MerryMart's working capital through intercompany advances that exceeded ₱4.2 billion as of last quarter. Edgar 'Injap' Sia II controls DoubleDragon alongside Jollibee Foods founder Tony Tan Caktiong, who entered the structure in 2022 via a ₱18.7 billion secondary block purchase.
Allocators should expect DoubleDragon to file a delisting application with the PSE within 15 trading days, triggering a regulatory review that historically requires 45 to 60 days. The company will likely migrate MerryMart's store network under the CityMall anchor-tenant model, reducing third-party lease expenses and consolidating merchandise procurement across DoubleDragon's 412 commercial properties. Watch for revised EBITDA guidance in DoubleDragon's Q1 2025 earnings in mid-May, when management typically discloses integration costs. The tender also removes overhang risk from the 8.4% free float that had traded below net asset value since mid-2023, when the grocery sector repriced on margin compression fears.
DoubleDragon now holds the clean majority it needs to restructure MerryMart's balance sheet without special resolutions. The remaining 1.4% minority—likely retail holders below the ₱100,000 tender minimum—will convert to appraisal rights once the delisting completes, creating a final settlement liability that DoubleDragon will book in Q2.