THE PROPERTY arm of the SM Group won regulatory approval for a bond issue of up to P25 billion, proceeds of which will finance capital expenditure for the expansion of mall, offices and hotel operations.

In an en banc meeting on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved SM Prime Holdings, Inc.’s planned sale of P15 billion worth of bonds with an oversubscription option of P10 billion.

According to the registration statement, the Series A bonds with a tenor of five years and six months were priced at 4.5479% to 5.54791%; the Series B with a tenor of seven years at 4.8013% to 5.8013%; and Series C with a tenor of 10 years at 5.1500% to 6.1500%.

SM Prime said it plans to list the bonds on Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. for secondary trading. BDO Capital, BPI Capital, China Bank and First Metro Investment Corp. were tapped to be the transaction’s issue managers and underwriters.

SM Prime has earmarked P60.9 billion in capital expenditure for its projects this year, of which P30 billion will go to malls, P24.5 billion to residential, P3.2 billion to commercial, and P3.2 billion to hotels and convention centers.

SM Prime’s second-quarter net profit rose 12% to P5.22 billion, while revenue rose 11% to P18.08 billion.

SM Prime shares gained eight centavos or 0.50% to close at P16.08 on Thursday. — Daphne J. Magturo