THE country’s largest mall owner and operator told the Philippine Stock Exchange that the Securities and Exchange Commission has given its nod to the acquisition of the China malls owned by Henry Sy Sr.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) disclosed that the regulator approved on May 20 the issuance of 913 million of its shares and exempted the same from the registration requirements of the Securities Regulation Code.

These shares will be swapped for 100 percent of the outstanding common shares of Affluent Capital Enterprises and MegaMake Enterprise Ltd., the holding firms of the three SM malls in the mainland so that SMPH can fold these under its portfolio.

To acquire these SM-branded malls in Jinjiang, Xiamen, and Chengdu, SM Prime will issue about 372.5 million new common shares with par value of P1 each to Oriental Land Development Limited in exchange for 100-percent equity in Mega Make Enterprises, a firm that owns 100 percent of SM Jinjiang.