SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s largest mall operator, will tap the bond market if the implementation of the law on real estate investment trusts or REITs is deferred.

The listed firm however expects to secure only up to $100 million from bonds, a fifth of the $500 million the mall developer wants to raise from a REIT listing, an executive said yesterday.

“If REITs [do] not become reality, then we will have to look for an alternative, maybe bonds or debts,” Jeffrey C. Lim, executive vice-president and chief finance officer of SM Prime, told reporters at the sidelines of a REIT conference in Makati.

A REIT foray will allow SM Prime to build new malls. The group expects to have a total of 40 malls nationwide this year.

On Tuesday, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said the government was concerned with the P2.7 billion in revenues estimated to be lost due to the REIT law. — Neil Jerome C. Morales