SM Prime beefs up presence in Cebu (South Road Properties)

By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated July 07, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines – SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest shopping mall operator, is beefing up its presence in Cebu with plans to acquire three properties to take advantage of the city’s booming tourism industry.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), SM Prime said the group is in talks with several parties for the purchase of new properties in Cebu and expects to conclude negotiations with one of them in the third quarter this year.
SM Prime is hoping to put in place its second mall in Cebu by 2011.
One of the properties the company is eyeing is located within the 295-hectare South Road Properties (SRP), which is envisioned to become the single biggest growth driver in Cebu.
The SRP is registered as a special economic zone and was designed for mixed land use that can accommodate light manufacturing, commercial, tourism, information technology and other service enterprises.
Cebu is the Philippines’ main domestic shipping port, and is home to more than 80 percent of the country’s domestic shipping companies. It also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippine Islands, and is a significant center of commerce, trade, and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
In May, SM Prime opened a mall in Naga City, its first in the Bicol region and 34th nationwide.
Naga City is considered as the nerve center of the Bicol region due to its proximity to large business establishments, universities, hotels, and regional government offices. It is also a transportation hub with the Naga Transport Exchange servicing almost all of the region’s inter-municipality transportation.
For the rest of the year, SM Prime is slated to open SM City Rosario in Cavite, SM City Pamplona in Las Piñas as well as the expansion phase of SM City Rosales in Pangasinan. By year end, the company’s branch network is expected to reach 36 with an estimated total gross floor area of 4.9 million square meters.
SM Prime is also looking at building a mall in Tarlac, San Pablo, Laguna, Calamba; and Commonwealth.
SM Prime has earmarked P12 billion in capital expenditures this year, P6.5 billion of which will be used to expand its operations domestically while the balance of P5.5 billion will go to its expansion in China.
Three new malls in China – Chonggqing, Suzhou, and Zibo – are targeted for opening between 2010 and 2012.
This will add to its three existing malls – SM Xiamen, Jinjiang, and Chengdu.
Suzhou, with a gross floor area of 73,000 sq.m., is under construction and is expected to open early 2010.
While Zibo and Chongqing, which has the biggest population in China) are scheduled to open in 2011 and 2012.

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SM Prime Holdings eyes three more malls in Cebu (South Road Properties)

By Rhia de Pablo (The Freeman) Updated July 06, 2009 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc., the conglomerate that owns and manages SM shopping malls in the country is currently negotiating with three properties here in Cebu for possible sites of three new malls.

“We are still in the middle of negotiations but we will come out with some good news towards the end of the third quarter because we should be closing some deals by then,” said SM Prime Holdings president Hans T. Sy in an interview.
However, Sy stressed that they could not assure that these three properties will all be clinched but he hopes that they can get all three.
He also said that the three new properties will hopefully include the South Road Properties (SRP) site.
After SM Prime Holdings close the deals for the three new sites in Cebu this third quarter, they are targeting to construct the malls simultaneously within 18 to 30 months so that it will be ready for operation by 2011.
Sy said that there are certain formulas that they are looking for in acquiring a new site for their mall operations and traditionally, the size requirement is around four to five hectares because the size that is lower than that becomes a super center, a smaller version of existing SM malls.
The three sites that SM is negotiating with measures around 80,000 to 85,000 square meters with provisions to expand to 200, 000 square meters like SM City Cebu, said Sy.
“Cebu is ready for three new SM malls and we are looking at utilizing our new operation and expansion approach. We believe that there is enough market even during the crisis because people look at shopping malls now as substitute for public parks so we will continue to develop malls into a destination center where people can go and visit,” said Sy.
Just recently, SM acquired new sites in Davao and General Santos for new malls and nationwide, they are set to open a supercenter in Las Piñas this October and in Rosario, Cavite this November.
Currently, SM has 36 malls all over the country and abroad as three of which is in China.
Sy bared plans to put up a fourth SM mall in Suzhou, China and expand its existing Xiamen operations.
“China is our growth story for the next five years. We are up against big competitors in China so our strategy is to move in to second to third tier cities which are areas that have never heard of shopping centers,” said Sy.
Aside from their plans to open another SM mall in China, the company is also looking at opening four new malls in 2010 which will include Tarlac, Antipolo and Calamba.
“Right now our main focus is in the Philippines because we still see a lot of growth here although everybody knows SM already. We will continue to strengthen our organization and we constantly tell our people to focus on Cebu which is currently the best place to be in Visayas and Mindanao. We are bullish of Cebu and we definitely have to have a second SM site here,” said Sy.

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FLI assures city condo project won't flood Kasambagan (South Road Properties)

(The Freeman) Updated June 26, 2009 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines – To assure barangay Kasambagan that no flooding will occur in the area, Filinvest Land Inc. will finance drainage and road repair for its One Oasis Mabolo Project, a condominium project between barangays Kasambagan and Mabolo.
FLI Vice President for Visayas and Mindanao Tristan Las Marias made the commitment to Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday.

Osmeña said the city is helping FLI carry out with their project “but it doesn’t mean we are abandoning the people of Kasambagan. I mean, fair is fair,” Osmeña said.
Councilor Augustus Pe yesterday said the technical group of FLI, as well as the city’s engineering staff and officials of barangay Kasambagan are now holding meetings to determine the necessities for drainage and road repair.
The Kasambagan barangay council recently denied FLI an endorsement for its application for an environmental compliance certificate for the One Oasis Mabolo project, saying the project is seen to cause flooding in at least six sitios in the barangay.
The project would also reportedly flood an existing subdivision because it will block the exit of rainwater coming from the Cebu Country Club.
FLI is the city’s first investor at the South Road Properties with a P25 billion project, which will be implemented through a Joint Venture Agreement. —Ferliza C. Contratista/JMO (THE FREEMAN)

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Tomas invites Pangilinan to invest in cancer center (South Road Properties)

(The Freeman) Updated June 25, 2009 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Tomas Osmeña has met with PLDT and Smart Communications Chairman Manny Pangilinan to discuss the possibility for the business mogul to invest at an extension of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the South Road Properties.
Osmeña said the meeting went “very well” but nothing was finalized, especially on how much Pangilinan would invest in the project. The city has proposed for the business mogul to provide the equipment and facilities needed by the cancer center.
Osmeña met with Pangilinan in Manila the other day. Pangilinan was ranked the 39th richest man in the Philippines last year with a net worth of US$ 39 million.
Osmeña said another meeting will be arranged with Pangilinan and officials of Filinvest Land Inc., which the city wants to provide the land and the center itself. Filinvest is the very first investor at the South Road Properties.
The mayor was also set to meet with Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, but later chose to do so after he returns from the United States.
He said he would also meet with officials from the Department of Health, Philippine Medical Association, and Philippine Regulatory Commission, among others.
“I’ll meet them when I get back. I anticipate some opposition from the locals in the name of nationalism because you know, the market of this hospital is not really the Philippines,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña said he will also make an initial presentation of the project to officials of MD Anderson Cancer Center and would invite the officials to Cebu City. It was at the center where Osmeña was treated for his cancer of the urinary bladder.
Osmeña said a branch of the cancer center in Cebu will be the “biggest opportunity of the Philippines as far as medical tourism is concerned” and the city will target countries that are possible markets for the center.
So far, a prince from Brunei and a large firm in India have reportedly expressed interest to invest in the project, he said.
Aside from providing a topnotch facility to countries far from the US, Osmeña said the MD Anderson Cancer Center would also be a venue to facilitate research and development, as well as the transfer of technology to the locales.
“You know, they can validate alternative medicine like mixing of kamunggay with, you know, a potion here, lotion there, kanang mga Arthro-Arthro ba. I’m serious because they are claiming to cure these kinds of diseases,” he said.
MD Anderson has reportedly invented 17 new cancer treatments in five years and is working on six more treatments. — Ferliza C. Contratista/JMO (THE FREEMAN)

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Tommy lays out plans for South Road Properties cancer center

(The Freeman) Updated June 24, 2009 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña went to Manila yesterday to lay out plans to have the MD Anderson Cancer Center open a branch at the South Road Properties.
The said plans, he said, will be presented to officials of MD Anderson, University of Texas, Houston, when he will undergo a checkup next week.
Osmeña said he met with “hospital king” Manny Pangilinan for
a possible joint undertaking to realize the MD Anderson plan at the SRP.
“The meeting went on very well. It was exploratory. As suggested they will meet with Filinvest for a possible joint effort at the SRP,” Osmeña said.
In earlier interviews he said the hospital will have to be built in the 50.6-hectare area of Filinvest Land Inc. who will also build the building.
Another player needed is someone who could supply and organize the hospital which is the expertise of Pangilinan.
If things go as planned, operations and manpower will be filled in by MD Anderson.
Osmeña said, MD Anderson can’t put up a branch outside Texas as it is state-owned and so it was necessary for him to organize the players jointly.
Osmeña had his treatment and surgery for urinary bladder cancer at the said center which is considered as the best cancer center in the world.
Having MD Anderson at SRP has the Middle East, Australia and the whole Asia as a market since it is nearer than their hospital in Houston.
“Desperate people, those who wanted to live and get cured will go to MD Anderson, there was even one who will fly in and fly out from Hong Kong to Houston for treatment,” he said.
The hospital earns around $1,000 a day for the stay alone, exclusive of the chemotherapy and other treatment fees.
He said there was also a day in which the center earned $6.5 million for chemotherapy.
It is also preferable to have the center within the 50.6 hectare area of the FLI project considering that the patients will have to rent apartments and condominiums.
The patient’s relatives and friends will also be accommodated by the units that will be built soon.
Pangilinan is the president of SMART and Philippine Long Distance Company is in a hospital-buying-and-investing spree in Visayas and Mindanao.
He heads Metro Pacific Investment Corporation and owns leading hospitals such as Makati Medical Center. – Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)

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