SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest mall operator and developer, recently raised P6.55 billion from selling shares to private investors, proceeds of which will be used to fund expansion programs in the Philippines and in China.

In its first equity placement since going public in 1994, SM Prime said it sold 569.61 million common shares, equivalent to 4.27 percent of its total outstanding shares.

The shares were priced at Pll.50, or a 4-percent discount from the P11. 98 close on Thursday.

In text message, SM Prime chief finance officer Jeffery Lim said the share sale will take the place of other planned fund-raising measures.

‘This placement is expected to broaden our shareholder base ‘and increase trading liquidity. The strong uptake of the placemen t affirms investor confidence in

SM Prime as one of the best property development companies in the Philippines,’ says SM Prime president Hans Sy said in a statement. SM Prime said Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and CLSA Asia Pacific acted as joint bookrunners for the placement, which saw ‘strong’ interest from investors in Asia, Europe and the US.

Lim said the proceeds will be mainly used to expand the company’s mall presence in the country and-in China.

‘This equity fund raising, together with the proposed SM Prime real estate investment trust offering which will be pursued as soon as the implementing rules are finalized, will put SM Prime in a very strong position to continue growing our businesses,’ he added. SM Prime will have 39 shopping malls in the country after opening SM City Calamba this Friday.

The brand-new mall has a gross floor area (GFA) of 66,516 square meters (sqm) and occupies 55,102 sqm of land.

SM City Calamba has a leasable area of 44,740 sqm, 82 percent of which has already been awarded to various tenants. The mall’s anchor tenants are SM Supermarket, SM Department Store, SM Appliance Center, Ace Hardware, BDO and Watsons.

Other mall tenants include Jollibee, McDonald’s, KFC, Red Ribbon, Bench, Penshoppe, and National Bookstore, among others. SM City Calamba also offers a business center, a Cyberzone, and a food court that can seat up to 340 diners.

SM City Calamba followed the opening this year of SM City Tarlac and SM City San Pablo.

To date, SM Prime has developed a combined GFA of 4.8 million sqm.bv Before the year ends, the company is set to open SM City Novaliches in Quezon City and its fourth mall in mainland China, which will be in the city of Suzhou.

SM Prime earlier reported that first half net income rose by a tenth to P3.8 billion, as total revenues rose to Pll.3 billion from P9.6 billion in the same period last year due to the addition of more malls.