WEALTH SECURITIES, Inc. analyst Anita Panaligan tagged SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPH) a buy given the mall operator’s sustained good performance.

SM Prime shares inched up 1.39%, closing at P7.30 per share last Friday, from P7.20 per share the previous day.

Its market capitalization reached P95.971 billion.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, SM Prime said it managed to raise P3 billion from its issuance of fixed-rate notes.

The notes have five-, seven and 10-year maturities. The funds raised from the issuance would be used for the development of SM Prime’s three malls, namely, SM Supercenter Rosales in Pangasinan, SM City Baliuag in Bulacan, and SM City Marikina.

However, ‘the development of new malls is already known to analysts, investors and even the public so we expect it would have no significant impact on the stock market performance of the company,’ Ms. Panaligan said in a telephone interview.

The additional funds would also be used for the expansion of the company’s three existing malls specifically SM Fairview and SM Megamall, which should be completed this year, and SM North EDSA, which should be finished next year.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved last May 20 SM Prime’s� acquisition of 100% outstanding common shares of Affluent Capital Enterprises and MegaMake Enterprise Ltd., which were owned by the Sy family.

Through a share swap agreement, shopping mall operator SM Prime would issue 912,897,212 shares of its common stock, in exchange for 100% ownership of the two Chinese firms.

Included in the acquisition are the three SM malls in mainland China: SM Jinjiang, SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu.

SM Prime would issue about 372.5 million new common shares at P1 per value to Oriental Land Development Ltd. in return for MegaMake’s 100% equity, which wholly owns SM Jinjiang.

In addition, the Sy-led mall operator would issue 540 million new common shares to Grand China International Ltd., trading Affluent’s 100% equity, which owns SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu.

The move to get hold of the two Chinese holding firms would not yet be reflected in SM Prime’s
market performance, however.

‘As per SM Prime Executive Vice-President Jeffrey C. Lim, the acquisition is diluted by 5%.

‘And considering that they are not yet consolidated to the company, we expect that the operation of the Chinese malls would not yet be included in the company’s [SM Prime] revenues,’ Ms. Panaligan noted.

SM Prime is part of the SM Group of Companies and is the largest mall operator in the Philippines.

It operates 30 malls nationwide as of December last year, including 13 in Metro Manila with a combined gross floor area of 3.9 million square meters and an average daily pedestrian count of 2.5 million.