SM PRIME Holdings, Inc. has yet to feel the pinch of the slowing economic growth in China with the property holding firm of the country’s richest man Henry Sy, Sr. on track to open one mall every year in the world’s second biggest economy.

 
SM CITY Chengdu is one of SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s malls in China. — SMPRIME.COM

 
SM Prime President Hans T. Sy told reporters the real estate firm is looking at a sustained double-digit growth rate for its shopping mall business in China.

“China is a very big [country]. It’s almost as good as four countries combined so while they are affected, no matter you say, their growth is still 6.8%, which is quite good,” Mr. Sy said on the sidelines of the Annual Reception for the Banking Community on Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, China announced it expanded 6.8% year on year in the fourth quarter, the slowest since 2009.

Growth in top-tier cities may have been affected by China’s deteriorating growth, but SM Prime is focused on second- and third-tier cities, which continue to show expansion.

“I cannot say the same thing about Beijing and Shanghai, maybe they are lower, which means, the second-tier cities are much higher,” Mr. Sy said.

SM Prime has shopping centers in the cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Suzhou, Chongqing and Zibo.

Likewise, SM Prime is pushing through with its residential venture in China with its maiden project in Chengdu, located beside its shopping mall.

“We are doing it one project at a time,” Mr. Sy said.

The integrated property company had said it will spend P20 billion annually to expand its mall business, support its foray into residential development and beef up its land bank in China.

SM Prime is on the third year of a five-year program that entails a capital spending budget of P400 billion to beef up its businesses that will double earnings by 2018.

One-time trading gains and the expansion of its shopping mall and residential businesses lifted the net profit of SM Prime by 70% to P22.87 billion in the nine-month period from P13.81 billion a year ago.

SM Prime is part of SM Investments Corp., which has core businesses in retail, banking and real estate. The family also has interests in gaming, geothermal energy and infrastructure.

Shares in SM Prime slid 46 centavos or 2.36% to close at P19.06 apiece on Wednesday.