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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
The country’s largest mall owner and operator
told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday that it has formally
acquired the Sy-owned shopping malls in mainland China.
In a disclosure, SM Prime Holdings Inc. said it
is acquiring the three malls located in Jinjiang, Xiamen, and
Chengdu through a share swap agreement. Under the accord, SMPH will
issue about 372.5 million new common shares with par value P1 each
to Oriental Land Development Limited in exchange for 100-percent
equity of Mega Make Enterprises Limited, a firm that owns 100
percent of SM Jinjiang.
On the other hand, SM Prime will issue 540
million new common shares with P1 par value each to Grand China
International Limited that will be swapped with 100 percent equity
of Affluent Capital Enterprises, which owns SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu.
The firm has tapped Citigroup Global Markets
Limited and Macquarie Securities (Asia) Pte Ltd. as financial
advisers for the acquisition, Savills Valuation and Professional
Services Ltd. as property appraiser. SMPH also engaged
Pricewaterhouse Coopers Ltd. and Commerce and Finance Law Offices
for the transactions in China while Grant
Thornton International were hired as independent financial advisers.
The acquisition of the malls, which count
retailing giant Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, KFC and department store SM-Laiya
as anchor locators, is still subject to the approval of the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Last year, Henry Sy, SMPH president said, the
firm would take over the management and finances of its overseas
mall operations so that these malls could have easy access to
capital as raising funds in the country would be easier than in
China.
The firm plans to build one mall a year in the
mainland but this would be at a slower pace compared with its local
expansion. A fourth mall is slated to be completed by end of next
year, which would be built on a newly acquired 7-ha. land in
Chongqing.
The firm also received several offers from
various companies to build malls in Vietnam and India after it has
opened the SM Mall of Asia. Sy said the group is looking into the
possibilities but thorough studies should be conducted first since
these areas are beyond newer territories.
Meanwhile, the Sm group is still keen on
building in the Philippines but on much smaller scale with 200,000
to 300,000 sqm of floor space in the provinces.
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