THE country’s largest mall developer and operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) has successfully sold its PS billion floating and fixed rate notes facility.

The company said the facility was oversubscribed with 11 primary institutional lenders subscribing to the issue. ‘The strong response by the market to this financing illustrates the high credit quality of SMPH, as well as the local market’s confidence in the company,’ it said.

The deal was arranged by BDO Capital & Investment Corp. with PNB Capital & Investment Corp. as co-lead arranger.

Proceeds from the issuance will be used to fund ongoing capital expenditure, mainly the construction of new malls both here and in China. 
 
This year, the company plans to open SM City Naga in Camarines Sur; SM City Rosario in Cavite, SM City Pamplona in Las Piñas; and the Sky Garden at SM City North Edsa. It is also set to expand SM City Rosales in Pangasinan. By the end of 2009, the mall developer will have 36 malls nationwide with an estimated gross floor area (GFA) of 4.5 million square meters (sq m). Including the SM China malls, its estimated GFA will reach 4.9 million sq m. 
 
SMPH, which is controlled by the family of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr., ended 2008 with a consolidated net income of P6.4 billion from P6.0 billion the year before. Revenues, on the other hand, grew 12 percent to P17.8 billion.

These results included the operations of the three SM malls in China, following their acquisition in late 2007. The SM China malls are located in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China, and Chengdu in Central China.