MANILA – SM Prime Holdings Inc., the mall development arm of tycoon Henry Sy, is planning to list its wholly-owned unit which will eventually handle all of the SM group’s mall operations in China.

SM Prime chief finance officer Jose Sio, who is also the CFO of Sy’s holding firm SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), told reporters that the company is considering listing SM Land (China) Limited in Singapore, Shanghai or Hong Kong over the next 5 years.

‘Nothing is definite yet. It is a vision and we are planning for the future,’ Sio said.

SMIC, through unit SM Prime, operates 3 SM malls in China, which are located in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China, and Chengdu in Central China.

Currently, Mega Make Enterprises Limited (BVI) holds the SM malls in Xiamen and Chengdu, while Affluent Capital Enterprises Limited (BVI) holds the mall in Jinjiang. SM Land (China) holds mall properties in Chongqing, Suzhou, and Zibo.

Sio said SM Prime intends to eventually restructure its China investments and consolidate all assets under SM Land (China) in preparation for its eventual initial public offering and listing overseas.

SM Prime earlier said it would to set up 7 more shopping malls in China in the next 5 years, in addition to expanding in the Philippines.

The company projected its China operations to account for 10% of overall revenues by 2013 or 2014.

During the first half of 2009, SM Prime reported an 8% increase in net income to P3.4 billion due largely to higher rental revenues.