SM PRIME Holdings, Inc., the country’s largest mall developer, will open today its fourth mall in China in line with plans to expand operations abroad and in the Philippines, a statement released yesterday showed.

SM City Suzhou is the firm’s 45th mall and the second branch to be launched this year after SM City Masinag in Antipolo City opened in the first half

Suzhou City has a population of approximately 6.3 million and is engaged in industries such as electronics, information technology, and biotechnology, SM Prime said.

The new mall comes on top of several other branches planned for the East Asian country.

The firm is currently building its fifth mall in China: SM City Tianjin in Tianjin province, SM’s largest mall yet. 

With a projected gross floor area of 530,000 square meters, SM City Tianjin is expected to surpass the country’s largest mall, SM City North Edsa, which measures 482,878 square meters and is also the world’s third largest.

SM City Suzhou brings the total number gross floor area of SM Prime’s malls to 5.7 million square meters.

By the yearend, SM Prime is set to open three additional malls: SM City San Fernando in Pampanga, SM City Olongapo in Zambales, and SM Marketmall in Dasmariñas, Cavite. 

Expansion work is also planned for SM City Davao and SM City Dasmariñas in Cavite by the end of the year.

In a related development, parent firm SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) yesterday disclosed it had raised P5 billion from the issuance of 7- and 10-year fixed rate corporate notes.

The notes were priced at yields of 5.750% for the 7- year tranche and 6.625% for the 10-year tranche.

BDO Capital and Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. acted as the joint lead arrangers and bookrunners of the issue.

SM Investments President Harley T. Sy was reportedly highly encouraged by the market reception.

“This notes issuance is indeed a clear indication of the financing community’s trust and confidence in the SM group,” Mr. Sy said in the statement. 

SMIC Chief Finance Officer Jose T. Sio for his part said, “We are pleased with the continued vote of confidence of the institutional investors who subscribed to the notes issue. 

SM Investments grew net income by 13% to P9.64 billion in the first half of 2011 from year-ago levels. 

SM Investments shares dipped by 0.38% to P518 yesterday.

SM Prime’s profits grew 14% to P4.27 billion in the first semester over P3.76 billion recorded in the same period last year.

SM Prime shares fell by 4.12% to P11.64 apiece yesterday from its previous close of P12.14 each. — Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente