LISTED SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s largest mall operator, will spend P12 billion this year to build ten new malls, a ranking official said on Wednesday.

‘[Capital expenditure] for this year will be about P12 billion. We are spending P8 billion for the Philippines and P4 billion in China,’ Jeffrey C. Lim, executive vice-president and chief finance officer of SM Prime, told reporters at the sidelines of the opening of SM Fairview Annex II.

For this year, new SM malls will rise in Calamba City and San Pablo City in Laguna;Tarlac City; Novaliches;Masinag in Antipolo; and in Suzhou City in China.

‘We will also start to construct malls that will open in 2011,’ Mr. Lim said.

At the end of the year, SM will have 44 malls in the Philippines and in China totaling a retail space of 4.5 million square meters.

Share prices of SM Prime rose to P9.30 per piece on Wednesday from P9.20 per piece on Tuesday.