MANILA, Philippines – SM Prime Holdings Inc., the integrated property firm of the Sy family, continues to expand its mall empire with the recent opening of its 52nd mall in the country.

SM City San Mateo, the company’s fourth mall in Rizal province along with SM City Taytay, SM City Masinag and SM City Angono, further cements the firm’s stature as the largest retailer in the country.

SM City San Mateo provides an additional 80,043 square meters in gross floor area (GFA), bringing SM Prime’s total retail space to 6.612 million sqm to date.

“The  economy’s  continued  expansion  has  encouraged  major  developments  in  the  provinces where we see the next wave of growth emerging. Our mall expansions in the coming years are focused  on  these  new  growth  cities  where  incomes  and  aspirations  are  showing  significant improvements,” SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said.

The new mall is the second SM Supermall to be opened this year, following SM Megacenter Cabanatuan’s opening last April 24.

SM City San Mateo opened with an 86 percent occupancy rate leased to various tenants. It intends to serve over 640,000 residents of San Mateo and nearby areas.

SM City San Mateo features 118 shopping units, four cinema theaters with a total seating capacity of 1,240 and a six-level car park with a total 430 parking slots.

For this year, SM Prime is set to open more malls locally and abroad: SM Center Sangandaan  in Caloocan, SM Seaside City Cebu, SM City Cabanatuan and SM City Zibo in China.

The company is also scheduled to expand SM City Lipa in Batangas and SM City Iloilo this year.

By the end of 2015, SM Prime plans a network of 55 malls in the Philippines and six in China with an estimated combined GFA of 8.273 million square meters.

“Over the years, SM Prime has opened new malls all over the Philippines, building three to four malls  per  year  regardless  of  the  economic  and financial  state  of the  nation.