Sy-led SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is looking at listing its Hong Kong-based property unit in the overseas market, to solidify its presence abroad.

In an interview, SM Prime Holdings Chief Finance Officer Jose T. Sio said SM Land (China) Ltd. will likely go public in the next five years the moment it has reached a “critical mass.”

“The [company] can be listed separately whether in Hong Kong, Singapore or in Shanghai,” he said. Mr. Sio defined critical mass as having established 10 malls in China.

He said this will likely happen within the next five years, pointing out that while the company has no plan to build a mall in Singapore, the market there is bigger.

“SM Prime will likely remain in majority control,” he said. SM Prime is 30% held by the public.

SM Investments Corp., the parent company of SM Prime, has set aside P211 billion in investments for the next five years, to be spent for the expansion of property developments, retail outlets, and malls both locally and in China.

While the strategy of the company right now is to open one mall a year, SM Prime had said this could be adjusted to three malls a year in the next two to three years.

The company already has three operating malls in China, located in Xiamen, JinJiang and Chengdu. It plans to open three more in Chongqing, Suzhou and Zibo in the next three years.

The malls are held through Megamake Enterprises Ltd. (BVI), Affluent Capital Enterprises Ltd. (BVI) and SM Land (China) Ltd. Megamake owns the Xiamen and Chengdu malls, while Affluent owns the mall in JinJiang. The Chongqing, Suzhou and Zibo malls, meanwhile, are under SM Land.

SM Prime said it plans to restructure the three companies so that all of them will be under SM Land.

The SM China malls’ major tenants include US retail giant Walmart, SM-Laiya Department Store, apparel retailer Giordano, health and beauty store chain Watsons, and international quick service restaurants McDonalds and KFC, among others.

The China malls account for 5% of the total revenues of SM Prime and 2% to its net income.

SM Prime is the country’s largest mall developer with 36 malls nationwide. Profits of the company grew by 8% to P5.1 billion from January to September.

Shares in the company did not move at P10.25 a piece yesterday. — Kristine Jane R. Liu