SM Prime Holdings Inc. is poised to acquire three malls in China owned by the company’s controlling shareholder, Henry Sy.

In a statement, SM Prime said it has tapped Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. and Macquire Securities (Asia) Pte Ltd. as joint financial advisers in evaluating the potential acquisition of the malls. Earlier, the SM group was mulling over whether it would acquire the China malls and fold it under SM Prime or list under a separate entity that would be listed at the local or international stock market.

Another option was to register the malls under a real-estate investment trust (REIT) in China, Hong Kong or Singapore, since the Philippines is still not conducive for REITs due to the present tax structure.

Each mall is almost as big as SM Southmall in Las Piñas. During the first half this year, SM Prime’s profits grew 11 percent to P2.9 billion as gross revenues climbed 22 percent to P7.45 billion over last year due to its aggressive expansion as the new malls enjoyed high occupancy rates and record foot traffic.

New malls are scheduled to open by the remainder of the year starting with SM Taytay and SM Supercenter in Muntinlupa while expansion is going on in SM City Cebu-Annex and SM City Pampanga.

The Science Discovery Center at the SM Mall of Asia and the Sunset Strip at the Esplanade are expected to open by October. By year-end, SM Prime would have 3.9 million square meters of total gross floor area.