THE Philippines’ biggest mall operator announced on Tuesday that it will open three malls in China starting this year until 2012, adding it expects double-digit growth in revenues at in the first quarter.

Hans Sy, SM Prime Holdings Inc. president, said its mall in Suzhou in China is now under construction, with a gross floor area of 73,000 square meters and will open early 2010, while the two others are in the cities of Chongqing and Zibo

“Chongqing and Zibo are scheduled to open in 2011 and 2012, respectively,” Jeffrey Lim, SM Prime executive vice president and chief finance officer told reporters.

This year, SM Prime has allocated P5.5 billion as capital outlay for its projects in China, and P6.5 billion for its Philippine malls, Lim said.

“The funds will come from internally generated funds and external borrowings,” the official said.

To date, SM Prime has three malls in China, namely SM City Xiamen, SM City Jinjiang, and SM City Chengdu.

Lim said the Xiamen mall is now the strongest player in the city and in full capacity.

“We have started leasing activities of the phase II expansion of our Xiamen [mall], which we are targeting to open in the fourth quarter of 2009,” he said.

The official said the company expects its China malls will see a sharp increase in tenant sales this year, adding, “We aggressively promote and create events to draw in the crowds.”

In the Philippines, Lim said the company would construct four malls, which are set to open next year.

“We will open malls in Tarlac, Calamba [and] San Pablo in Laguna, and Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City,” Lim said.

The company will open three malls, namely in Naga with a gross floor area of 73,000 square meters; Pamplona, Las Piñas with 40,000 square meters; and in Rosario, Cavite with 50,000 square meters.

“All these will expand our gross floor area by 214,000 square meters to 4.5 million square meters or an additional 5 percent increase from end-2008,” Lim said.

He said the company’s malls are doing better that expected, adding, “Their average occupancy is now at 96 percent despite having opened SM Rosales and SM Baliwag.”

In the first quarter of the year, Lim said SM Prime is seen posting a 15 percent growth in revenues from an 8 percent improvement in the same period a year ago.

Last year, SM Prime’s consolidated net income rose by almost 7 percent to P6.4 billion from the previous year as revenues climbed by 12 percent to P17.8 billion.

Profit growth last year however was slower than the 10 percent seen in 2007.

These results include the company’s three SM malls in Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China, and Chengdu in Central China, which the Philippine company acquired in the latter part of 2007.