Taipan Henry Sy Sr. is expanding his offshore investments in China with the construction of a third SM mall in Chongqing, a chartered city right in the middle of the mainland.

Francis Chua, special envoy for investments for China, said Sy, whose family controls, develops and operates the biggest chain of malls in the country, hopes to replicate his success in the country by expanding his presence in China.

China’s huge population and growing consumer spending could prove to be a good investment move for Sy, who is pursuing the mall development in China on his own.

There were earlier plans to fold in the investments in China under publicly listed firm SM Prime Holdings Inc., the operator and developer of the Sy’s SM chain of malls in the Philippines, but these have not pushed through yet.

SM has a mall in Crossroads, West Xiamen, and another one in Jinjang City in Fujian Province.

Meanwhile, a delegation of close to 300 businessmen from Chongqing recently visited the Philippines to explore possible investments in the areas of motorcycle manufacturing, nickel and chromite exploration, tourism, education and shipbuilding.

Chua said members of the Chongqing delegation were looking at putting up another manufacturing plant for motorcycles and exploring nickel and chromite in Palawan.

The other members of the delegation, he added, were looking at opening a chain of at least five hot pot restaurants in the Philippines in partnership with hotel tycoon William Gatchalian, who owns the Waterfront chain of hotels in the Philippines.

Chua said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in a meeting with the Chongqing-based businessmen, proposed Sta. Rosa, Laguna as site of their new motorcycle manufacturing plant due to the presence of a number of car manufacturers in the area and because of locally manufactured spare parts.

“They have also proposed to build ships in the country because they are good in building luxury vessels, but we asked them to work with Cosco [China Ocean Shipping Co.] since they would complement each other, said Chua, adding the prospective investors from Chongqing could also locate where Cosco was to put up its proposed integrated logistics hub project.

He added a Philippine-Chongqing Business Council had been created late last week under the auspices of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry to facilitate the flow of investments.