Posted on May 31, 2012 10:33:42 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
SM PRIME Holdings, Inc. is set to
strengthen its foothold in Cebu by opening a mall dubbed SM City Consolacion
tomorrow in a bid to take advantage of the province’s economic growth
prospects.
The retail center, which is located on
the Cebu North Road in Barangay Lamac, Consolacion, Cebu, is the company’s
second mall in the province after nearby SM City Cebu, which opened in 1993. It
is also SM Prime’s second new mall this year after SM City Olongapo opened last
February.
“The region of Cebu remains to be a
key expansion area for SM malls.
This reflects our continued confidence
in the prospects of Cebu, given its dynamic population and flourishing business
landscape, especially its vibrant export sector, which contributes
significantly to the country’s economic growth,” Hans T. Sy, SM Prime president
said in a disclosure yesterday.
Consolacion, the town where the new
mall is located, is a first-class municipality that boasts of industries such
as garments, furniture making, manufacturing, shipbuilding and ship repairing.
SM City Consolacion, which has a total
leasable area of 57,842 square meters (sq. m.), is already 89% leased out to
tenants.
Mall amenities include a tech-oriented
Cyberzone, a 668-person food court, four cinemas that will seat 1,488 persons,
and over 700 parking slots.
The opening of SM City Consolacion
comes amid SM Prime’s continued expansion in Cebu City via the construction of
a P4.5-billion shopping mall, which set to be the province’s biggest, in the
South Road Properties district.
Upon completion in the third quarter
of 2014, the new mall -- which will be located within the 30-hectare mixed-use
SM Seaside City -- will have a gross floor area of 241,600 sq. m.
“This is proof of SM’s vision for the
growth of Cebu City and the positive impact that its malls have on the lives of
Cebuanos,” SM Prime said.
Previously, SM Prime said it was
allocating a P21-billion capital expenditure for 2012, of which P14 billion is
intended for the Philippines and P7 billion for China. These will be sourced
from a mix of debt and internally-generated funds.
To further finance its capex, SM Prime
last Tuesday announced that it had raised P7.5 billion in fresh funds from the
issuance of fixed-rate and floating-rate notes that was reportedly snapped up
by institutional investors.
This year, SM Prime aims to have a
mall portfolio of 46 Philippine malls and five China malls by the year-end,
with an estimated combined gross floor area of 6.3 million sq. m.
SM Prime realized a 15% growth in its
first quarter net income this year to P2.43 billion versus P2.12 billion in the
same period last year.
SM Prime shares lost 2% to close at
P12.74 yesterday from P13.00 at its previous close. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la
Fuente
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