SM Prime Holdings Inc., the biggest shopping mall operator and developer, said Thursday it plans to build new shopping malls in three or four locations in China.

SM Prime president Hans Sy said the company planned to open at least one mall in China each year.

“If the negotiation for these new sites goes well, these would be in the pipeline,” Sy said.

SM Prime currently operates five shopping malls in China–Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Suzhou and Chongqing–with a gross floor area of 800,000 square meters.

China malls contributed P690 million in revenues to the SM Group in the first quarter, up from P620 million in 2012. The figure accounts for 9 percent of SM Prime’s consolidated revenues.

China operations also contributed 10 percent to SM Prime’s consolidated rental revenues.

SM Prime, which did not open a new mall in China this year, said it would open two malls in 2014, including one in Zibo and another in Tianjin. 

SM Zibo will have 154,000 square meters of leasable space while SM Tianjin is to become the company’s largest shopping center in China with 540,000 square meters.

“The market will still be the Philippines but we have to look at opportunities in the region. But right now our focus is in China in terms of expansion. The Philippines will still be our main market. Right now, China is contributing 10 percent to bottom line. In the enlarged entity, that contribution will even go down,” he said.

Sy said the proposed consolidation of Sy group’s property business would enable the group’s real estate firm SM Development to expand in China.

“It will be easier for SM Development Corp. to expand in China because we’re already there,” Sy said, adding it was in the final stages of negotiations for the acquisition of three to four properties in the world’s second-largest economy.