SM Prime raises P7.5 B from notes

MANILA, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest mall operator, has raised P7.5 billion from the issuance of corporate notes.

The fresh capital will be used to pay existing debts and partially finance capital spending this year, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

SM Prime said the issue size of the notes increased to P7.5 billion from the original P4 billion due to the strong demand from institutions consisting of banks, insurance and trust companies.

The notes facility, which was arranged by First Metro Investment Corp., consists of five- and 10-year floating rate notes and five- and 10-year fixed rate notes.

SM Prime said funds will be used to refinancing of existing obligations and partially fund capital expenditures and other general corporate requirements.

The mall developer has budgeted P21 billion for capital expenditures this year to continue the expansion of its operations locally and in China. 

To date, the mall giant has 42 SM Supermalls strategically located nationwide with a total gross floor area (GFA) of 5.1 million square meters (sqm).

Early this year, SM Prime opened SM City Olongapo. For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is scheduled to open SM City Lanang in Davao City, SM City General Santos in Southern Mindanao, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, SM City San Fernando in Pampanga, and SM Chongqing in China.

By end-2012, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined GFA of 6.3 million sqm.

For 2013, SM Prime will open two shopping centers in Metro Manila-SM Taguig and SM in BF Sucat, Parañaque. It will also be expanding existing malls in Clark and Bacolod.

SM Prime also has four malls in China (Xiamen, Jinjiang, Suzhou and Chengdu).

The firm’s earnings jumped 15 percent in the first quarter to P2.43 billion on the back of higher revenues arising from the addition of new malls and the strong growth of its China operations.