SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s top mall developer, has mandated Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Macquarie Securities (Asia) Pte. Limited as joint financial advisers for evaluating the potential acquisition of the three China malls currently owned by the Sy family.

The firm informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that it will announce further details on the proposed acquisition as soon as the study is completed.

The Sy family currently owns three malls in China: SM Xiamen, Sy’s first mall in China, opened in 2001; SM Jinjiang, where Henry Sy’s family lived before emigrating to the Philippines, which opened in 2005; and SM Chengdu which opened last year.

The expansion of the group’s retail business in China might outstrip the pace of new store openings in the Philippines, where the company is building three to four shopping malls a year, said Teresita Sy, eldest child of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr and SM Prime Executive Vice President and director.

‘If our organization is ready we can have a fast expansion,’ she said. ‘In China, you can expand 10 malls a year and it won’t be difficult.’ The group plans to focus on cities such as Chengdu and Xiamen, rather than Shanghai or Beijing, because the level of economic development and consumer spending patterns more closely match the Philippines, she said.

The Sy family is still expanding its mall business in China with the expansion to focus on areas around Chengdu in southern China and the eastern port city of Xiamen, where Sy’s three existing malls include tenants such as Wal-Mart Stores.