Offshore bond foray boosts SM Prime war chest by $350M
Real estate giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) raised $350 million from its inaugural dollar-denominated bond offer, which would help bankroll the development of projects in the pipeline.
The real estate giant told the exchange on Wednesday its Euro Medium-Term Note program (EMTN) was nearly thrice oversubscribed, with final demand reaching over $990 million.
The notes—part of SM Prime’s $3-billion multi-issuer EMTN program approved in May 2024—carry a yield of 4.75 percent and will mature in five years. These will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.
“Through this latest drawdown, we are able to tap the market at an opportune time to support our future projects and strategic initiatives,” SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim said in a statement.
“The continued interest from global investors underscores their sustained confidence in our long-term growth prospects,” Lim added.
According to SM Prime, the notes were distributed to “high-quality” global accounts. In terms of location, 91 percent went to investors from Asia and 9 percent to those from Europe, Middle East and Africa.
By investor type, 80 percent went to fund managers, 12 percent to banks, 4 percent to private banks, 3 percent to financial institutions and 1 percent to insurers, SM Prime said.
The Sy family-led developer, through subsidiary SMPHI SG Holdings Pte. Ltd., tapped HSBC, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, while BDO Capital and Chinabank Capital were the joint domestic managers.
Last year, SM Prime and parent firm SM Investments Corp. jointly raised $500 million from an overseas bond offer, marking their largest bond issuance abroad in a decade.
SM Prime’s bond offer comes after its subsidiary, SM Supermalls, announced plans to open five flagship malls until 2030. These will be built in Sta. Rosa in Laguna province (2026), Harrison Plaza in Manila (2027), Malolos in Bulacan province (2028), Cavite province (2029) and Pasay City (2030).
It likewise plans to spend P150 billion in the next five years for the redevelopment of 16 existing malls and the construction of 12 new lifestyle malls.
SM currently has 88 shopping malls in the country, with SM La Union set to open in October, according to SM Supermalls president Steven Tan.
