THE massive earthquake that hit central China early this month has no impact on the mall operations there of the Sy-led SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH).

SMPH, whose shares are traded at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), is a subsidiary of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC).

Teresita Sy-Coson, vice chairman of SMIC, told the BusinessMirror they are not expecting any major effect from the incident, which killed more than 5,000 people in one province alone.

“We have a mall in Chengdu but it is far from where the quake’s epicenter. I’m confident that the government will do ways to immediately rebuild the affected area,” she said in a text message.

SMPH currently operates three malls in the southern and western parts of China, namely, Xiamen, Jinjiang and Chengdu. The mall in Xiamen was the first to open in December 2001. It has a gross floor area (GFA) of 128,000 sq m, almost similar in size to SM City Sta. Mesa and is 100-percent occupied. SM Jinjiang opened in November 2005 with a GFA of 170,000 sq m and occupancy of 74 percent. Opened last year was SM Chengdu with a GFA of 170,000 sq m and an occupancy rate of 71 percent.

Another mall is up for construction in the third quarter and would be situated in Chongqing, southwest China’s commercial capital.  SMPH is spending P1 billion to build the said mall. It will have a gross floor area of 140,000 sq m and is up for completion by 2010.

Just last week, SMPH got the nod of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the issuance of 912.89 million common shares to the two holding companies owned by the Sy family in exchange for full ownership in the three malls in China.

The corporate regulator approved the issuance of common shares to Affluent Capital Enterprises and MegaMake Enterprise Limited. The said shares were also exempted from the registration requirements of the Securities Regulation Code.

The share swap, which was initiated in last November, was valued at P10.8 billion, or about P11.86 per share.

SMPH decided to acquire the China malls as this will allow them to gain a foothold in the country’s fast-growing economy and serve as a platform for long-term growth outside of the Philippines, where it is already the most dominant player.

In the next five years, the company’s plan is to build three to four additional malls in China as part of its long-term growth strategy.

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THE massive earthquake that hit central China early this month has no impact on the mall operations there of the Sy-led SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH).

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A FRIEND had this horror story to tell. It started with his e-mail address, which was obviously hijacked. At any rate, the mailing list of this friend received a standard message asking for help. It seemed a friend was currently on a work-related trip to the United Kingdom.