MALL OPERATOR SM PRIME HOLDINGS Inc. of tycoon Henry Sy has received the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to acquire Sy-owned malls in China through a P10.8-billion share-swap deal.

The deal is expected to be finalized before the end of the second quarter, Inquirer sources said. In a separate disclosure to the stock exchange, SM Prime executive vice president Jeffrey Lim said it has received approval from the SEC for the company’s planned issuance of 912.89 million SM Prime shares in exchange for 100 percent of Affluent Capital Enterprises and Mega Make Enterprise Ltd., the holding companies of the three SM malls in China.

The malls are in the cities of Jinjiang, Xiamen and Chengdu in China. Among the China malls’ anchor tenants are retailing giant Wal-Mart, international fast-food restaurants McDonald’s and KFC, and department store SM-Laiya.

Under the share-swap plan, SM Prime will issue a total of 912.89 million shares. Of this, 372.49 million new common shares will be issued to Oriental Land Development Ltd. in exchange for 100-percent equity in Mega Make Enterprises, a corporation that effectively owns 100 percent of SM Jinjiang.

SM Prime will issue 540.4 million new common shares to Grand China International Ltd. in exchange for 100-percent equity in Affluent Capital, the corporation that owns SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu.