MANILA, Philippines – Sy-owned SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest owner and operator of malls, is planning to spend some P12 billion in capital expenditures this year for the construction of malls in the Philippines and in China.
Company officials said SM Prime will be building four new malls in the country and three in China.
The new malls outside the Philippines will serve “as a springboard to lucrative cities in China’, said Hans Sy, SM Prime president, at the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders meeting on Tuesday.
SM Prime had also likely posted a 15-percent improvement in its revenues for the first three months of the year, said SM Prime chief finance officer Jeffrey Lim.
The four new malls to be constructed this year will be located in Tarlac, San Pablo and Calamba in Laguna and Commonwealth in Quezon City. Total construction cost is estimated at P6.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the three new malls, which have combined construction cost of P5.5 billion, in China will be located in Suzhou, Chongqing and Zibo, all second tier cities.
“We still have to introduce to them what the concept of malling is all about. We have to be patient,’ said Sy.
Construction for SM Suzhou, the fourth China mall, has already began. The mall, which has a gross floor area of 73,000 square meters and leasable area of 18,000 square meters, will be opened in 2010.
SM Chongqing and SM Zibo meanwhile will have a gross floor area of 140,000 sqm. and 120,000 sqm. and are expected to welcome shoppers in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
With the opening of three new malls and expansion of two existing malls this year, SM Prime will boost its gross floor area to 4.5-million sqm. with 39 malls, including the three existing China malls.
This year, SM Prime is set to open malls in Naga (73,000 sqm.), Pamplona, Las Pinas (40,000 sqm.), and Rosario Cavite (50,000 sqm.).
The company is also looking to open the Sky Garden at SM North EDSA ( an additional 34,000 sqm) and expand SM Super Center Rosales for an additional 17,000 sqm.