SM Prime Holdings Inc. said the quarantine measures in China will not affect the expansion plans of its malls in that country.
SM Prime is putting up a new mall in Yangzhou, is expanding the one in Xiamen and is redeveloping the one in Chongqing.
“It’s around two to four weeks at most. Hopefully it remains temporary,” said
John Nai Peng Ong, SM Prime chief finance officer, referring to the lockdowns implemented in some areas in China.
Ong also said financing for the malls are in place with cashflow for the projects “basically sustaining and funding themselves.”
SM Prime started the construction of its SM Yangzhou in 2019 when it planned to P4 billion for the 80,000 square meter (sq.m.) mall.
The 300,000 sq.m. SM Xiamen is up for expansion by another 60,000 sq.m., worth P3 billion to P4 billion.
SM Prime has seven malls in China located in the cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Suzhou, Chongqing, Zibo, and Tianjin covering a total of 1.3 million sq.m.of gross floor area.