The enlarged property unit of SM Group, soon to become Southeast Asia’s biggest real-estate developer with $14 billion in capital, is looking at building more integrated projects in the country although revenues from its mall operation will continue to be its main growth driver.

The company made this announcement after its shareholders approved on Wednesday the merger of most of the group’s property-development businesses into one big unit.

“Mall operations will be the priority going forward. The increase in our land bank will continue to be a strategy for future growth,” Jeffrey Lim, SM Prime Holdings Inc.  chief finance officer and executive vice president, said.

Under the consolidation plan that was approved by its stockholders, SM Prime will first merge with SM Land Inc., with SM Prime as the surviving entity.

It will then merge with SM Development Corp. (SMDC) and Highlands Prime Inc.

SMDC is a residential condominium developer, while Highlands Prime is in charge of the high-end residential property within the Tagaytay Highlands.

SM Prime will also acquire specific real-estate companies and assets currently held by SM Investments Corp., the holding company of the firms owned and controlled by the Sy family.

The consolidation will create Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer with a capitalization of $14 billion. 

The merger will result in the doubling of SM Prime’s annual revenues, while net income will increase by 61 percent, according to Lim.

“With the different property units of SM working as one, we can leverage the strengths of each of these units to undertake a wider range of projects, larger in scope in a more coordinated manner. This, we believe, will result in enhanced shareholder value, and more than this, create greater value for the communities we serve,” SM Prime President Hans Sy said.

The consolidation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

It will also result in the rebranding of SM’s big integrated developments into the Lifestyle Cities.  To be included are its township projects like the 60-hectare Mall of Asia. The company is also looking at developing its Davao property as its next township project.

Lim earlier said that the company would spend some P25 billion to develop its 30-hectare property in Cebu for the next three to five years.

Most of the assets of the SM Group are stand-alone shopping malls.

But with the consolidation, Lim said the company’s strategy would be changed in the coming years to include other businesses. “We have to sit down with all our business unit heads to put up an integrated development plan for the enlarged group,” Lim said.