THE SM group’s mall business is gearing to expand its presence in China with new openings in Xiamen and Fuzhou.
“We have two additional malls that we will open in China. One is in Xiamen again, but in a farther area. The other is in Fuzhou, which is also part of the Fujian province,” SM Supermalls President Steven Tan told reporters on the sidelines of a media event in Mandaluyong City last week.
“These two new projects will keep us very busy at least for the next three to four years,” he added.
He said the planned malls in Xiamen and Fuzhou will open by 2025 and 2027, respectively. “On the mall in Xiamen, it’s in the outskirts. We feel that there is an opportunity there, and our head office is in Xiamen, so it is easier to control,” he said.
“Right now, our focus is more on the Fujian province simply because of proximity. There is a new lot that was offered by the government. We studied it and deemed that it was good,” he added.
SM Supermalls is the malls unit of listed property developer SM Prime Holdings, Inc.
SM Prime has eight malls in China comprised of SM City Yangzhou, SM City Xiamen, SM City Jinjiang, SM City Chengdu, SM City Suzhou, SM City Chongqing, SM City Zibo, and SM City Tianjin.
Mr. Tan said that SM is also set to complete the first part of SM City Xiamen Phase 4 (Xiamen 4) by end of 2025. The expansion includes a boutique hotel.
“We’ve already opened the first part of Xiamen 4. If you total it all, it might actually be bigger than SM Mall of Asia and SM Megamall. The completion of all will probably be by end of next year,” he said.
Mr. Tan added that talks are set to be finalized with the Intercon Group (Intercontinental Hotels Group) regarding the hotel component of Xiamen 4.
“We’re in finalization with Intercon. It’s a boutique hotel with more than 100 rooms,” Mr. Tan said.
“We always come in as a mall first. Then, if there is an opportunity for us to expand the hotel business, we do,” he added.
He also said that the group’s Jinjiang, Xiamen, and Suzhou malls have already exceeded pre-pandemic levels in terms of performance.
Aside from its China malls, SM also has 87 malls in the Philippines, with the latest one being SM City J Mall in Mandaue City, Cebu, which was opened in October.
SM Prime shares were last traded on Dec. 6 at P26.7 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
