THE holding firm SM Investments Corp. of mall tycoon Henry Sy said its board had approved a plan to reorganize and simplify its corporate structure by grouping subsidiaries, affiliates and other assets together according to lines of business or interests.

It said the reorganization, which could be completed by yearend, aimed at helping investment analysts forecast earnings and put a realistic value on its assets based on a more organized grouping.

‘SM Investments has become one of the country’s largest conglomerates,’ company president Harley Sy said in a disclosure to the stock exchange. ‘Such a condition merits greater simplicity in the organization to better achieve efficiencies in SM Investments and provide greater clarity in our financial reports.’

The company said it would realign the ownership of shares and properties to follow major business lines: retail merchandising, mall operations, banking and financial services, real estate, and private investments.

Retail operations will be placed under a new company called SM Retail Inc., the disclosure said. SM Retail will have under it the companies operating SM Department Stores, SM Supermarkets and SM Hypermarkets, which together currently generate more than 70 percent of SM Investments’ total revenues, it said.

Another new company, SM Land Inc., will hold various assets in real estate projects, subsidiaries and affiliates in residential, commercial and eco-tourism-related development, the disclosure added. These units include SM Development Corp.; Central Business Park in the Manila Bay reclamation area where the Mall of Asia is located; Highlands Prime Inc., Taal Vista Hotel Inc., and Hamilo Coast, an eco-tourism project spanning 5,700 hectares of resort and retirement village development in Nasugbu town in
the province of Batangas, just south of Manila.

SM Prime Holdings, which has been listed on the stock exchange since 1994, will remain as the sole mall operator of the group. In 2005, it accounted for 18 percent of SM Investments revenues and 53 percent of the net income.

The banks, namely, Banco de Oro Universal Bank and China Banking Corp., will continue to operate independently. Last year, these contributed five percent of SM Investments revenues and 22 percent of net income. with INQ7.net