SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s leading integrated property developer, said Wednesday it will spend P15 billion to develop new malls and acquire land in China next year.
SM Prime executive vice president Jeffrey Lim said in an interview at the sidelines of the company’s P20-billion bond listing with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. the company would build one mall a year in China and was looking at more sites for future development.
The P15 billion capital spending in China forms part of the P65-billion programmed capital expenditures SM Prime earmarked for 2016.
Lim said the company’s outlook on China remained positive, despite the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Meanwhile, SM Prime chief finance officer John Ong said the company’s residential unit SM Development Corp. might launch its first house and lot development in the Philippines in 2016.
“The company is now evaluating the plans to expand its product offerings, including venturing into house and lot development,” Ong said.
Ong said the company was currently acquiring land in the greater Manila area for the planned venture.
Several property developers such as Ayala Land Inc., Federal Land Inc. and Century Properties Group Inc. are also boosting their product offerings by going into house and lot development to complement their high-rise residential projects.
SM Development said it would launch between 12,000 and 15,000 residential units in 2016 from five new projects and two expansion projects.
SM Prime on Wednesday successfully listed P20 billion worth of fixed-rate retail bonds which will primarily be used to build new shopping malls.
SM Prime plans to increase its number of malls to 55 in the Philippines with an equivalent mall footprint of 7.3 million square meter in terms of gross floor area by end-2015.
Next year, SM Prime will open six new malls and expand two existing malls. Combined, the additional mall space is 571,631 square meters.
SM Prime booked a net income of P22.9 billion in the first nine months, up 70 percent from a year ago as income was boosted by P7.4 billion worth of one-time trading gain on marketable securities in the first quarter.
Net income, on a recurring basis, increased 15 percent to P15.5 billion in the same period.