Vol. XXI, No. 227 [ Business World Online ]
Thursday, June 19, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
SM PRIME Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI) managed to raise P3 billion to fund its ongoing capital expenditures.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, SM Prime Executive Vice-President Jeffrey C. Lim said its fixed rate note had been oversubscribed, with 16 institutional lenders subscribing.
The deal was arranged by the First Metro Investment Corporation and will have maturities of five, seven and 10 years.
"The strong response by the market to this financing illustrates the high credit quality of SMPHI, as well as the local market’s confidence in SM Prime Holdings, Inc.," the listed company said.
SM is the country’s largest mall operator controlled by retail magnate Henry Sy.
In a phone interview, Teresa Cecilia H. Reyes, assistant vice-president for finance of SMPHI, said the capital expenditure would cover the development of three malls — SM Supercenter Rosales in Pangasinan, SM City Baliuag in Bulacan and SM City Marikina.
It will also cover the expansion of three existing malls, namely, SM Fairview, SM Megamall and SM North EDSA. The expansion of the first two is expected to be completed this year, while the last one is expected to be finished next year.
"We are expecting that the expansion would generate more income for the company," Ms. Reyes said.
The three new malls will be a new addition to the existing 30 SM malls that have been operating nationwide.
SM already has 30 branches nationwide, and upon completion of the six malls, will have a ground floor area of 4.2 million square meters.
Aside from the three new malls, Ms. Reyes said that the company also plans to build three to five more malls over the next five years. — Kristine Jane R. Liu
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