The country’s largest mall owner and operator told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday that it has formally acquired the Sy-owned shopping malls in mainland China.

In a disclosure, SM Prime Holdings Inc. said it is acquiring the three malls located in Jinjiang, Xiamen, and Chengdu through a share swap agreement. Under the accord, SMPH will issue about 372.5 million new common shares with par value P1 each to Oriental Land Development Limited in exchange for 100-percent equity of Mega Make Enterprises Limited, a firm that owns 100 percent of SM Jinjiang.

On the other hand, SM Prime will issue 540 million new common shares with P1 par value each to Grand China International Limited that will be swapped with 100 percent equity of Affluent Capital Enterprises, which owns SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu.

The firm has tapped Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Macquarie Securities (Asia) Pte Ltd. as financial advisers for the acquisition, Savills Valuation and Professional Services Ltd. as property appraiser. SMPH also engaged Pricewaterhouse Coopers Ltd. and Commerce and Finance Law Offices for the transactions in China while Grant Thornton International were hired as independent financial advisers.

The acquisition of the malls, which count retailing giant Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, KFC and department store SM-Laiya as anchor locators, is still subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last year, Henry Sy, SMPH president said, the firm would take over the management and finances of its overseas mall operations so that these malls could have easy access to capital as raising funds in the country would be easier than in China.

The firm plans to build one mall a year in the mainland but this would be at a slower pace compared with its local expansion. A fourth mall is slated to be completed by end of next year, which would be built on a newly acquired 7-ha. land in Chongqing.

The firm also received several offers from various companies to build malls in Vietnam and India after it has opened the SM Mall of Asia. Sy said the group is looking into the possibilities but thorough studies should be conducted first since these areas are beyond newer territories.

Meanwhile, the Sm group is still keen on building in the Philippines but on much smaller scale with 200,000 to 300,000 sqm of floor space in the provinces.