Philippine mall developer SM Prime Holdings Inc is planning to raise up to 7 billion Philippine pesos ($162 million) via a syndicated loan in the first quarter to partly fund its 2012 capital spending plans, a company official said.

The company plans to open three new malls in the Philippines next year and acquire properties in China where it also operates malls, Jeffrey Lim, company chief finance officer told reporters late on Wednesday.

Lim said SM Prime was planning to raise 5 billion pesos from the syndicated loan carrying a maturity of possibly 5 to 10 years, with an option to increase the issue to 7 billion pesos.

SM Prime, a unit of banking-to-property conglomerate SM Investments Corp, plans capital spending of 21 billion pesos next year.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, ANZ, and ING Bank form the syndicate, Lim said.

Shares of SM Prime rose 0.5 percent in a market that closed nearly flat on Thursday.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Rosemarie Francisco)