The enlarged SM Prime Holdings Inc., which now includes SM Development Corporation (SMDC) and Highlands Prime Inc., will explore opportunities in the region as the recent merger of the SM group’s property units has transformed it into the biggest real estate firm southeast Asia.

SM Prime’s shareholders have just approved a merger with SM Land Inc. which is taking steps to acquire all the shares of SMDC and HPI. The merger will result in the consolidation of all the property business of the SM group under SM Prime.

“We thank our shareholders for supporting this merger. With the different property units of SM working as one, we can leverage the strengths of each of these units to undertake a wider range of projects, larger in scope in a more coordinated manner. This, we believe will result in enhanced shareholder value, and more than this, create greater value for the communities we serve,” SM Prime President Hans T. Sy said.

In an interview after the firm’s special stockholders’ meeting, SM Prime executive vice president Jeffery Lim said they are now in the process of coming out with an integrated expansion plan for the SM property group and should be making an announcement in six months.

In the meantime, Sy said they will continue all the existing projects of SM Prime, SMDC and HPI which will entail capital expenditures of P60 billion this year.

Sy noted that the firm’s profile in the region has grown because of the merger and this will unlock opportunities.

“We are now being noticed,” he said.

While they will look at opportunities in the region, Lim said their primary market will still be the Philippines while their regional expansion will still focus on China where they have established contacts and is already growing a chain of malls.

“SMDC will have an easier time getting into the Chinese market now that it is part of SM Prime since SM Prime already has the organization which knows the regulatory environment in China,” said Sy adding that SMDC can build condominiums around SM malls there.

Sy said they are also in the final stages of negotiations for three to four new sites for SM malls in China and should be able to announce some deals before the end of the year.

Lim said they will continue to open malls at an average of one per year in China adding that China now accounts for 10 percent of their bottomline for malls although this will become lower with the merger of all of SM’s property businesses.