SM Prime Holdings

SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (PSE: SMPH) or SM Prime is the parent company of the SM Group's shopping malls. It is the largest shopping mall and retail operator in the Philippines. It was incorporated on 6 January 1994 to develop, conduct, operate and maintain the SM commercial shopping centres and all businesses related thereto, such as the lease of commercial spaces within the compound of shopping centres. It later went public on July 5, 1994 and subsequently grew to become the largest company listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange in terms of revenue. As of 2007, SM Prime Holdings became one of the largest shopping mall chains in the world. The company's main sources of revenues include rental income from mall and food courts, cinema ticket sales and amusement income from bowling and ice-skating.

Currently, it has 41 operating malls totalling a gross floor area of 4.5 million square metres located in Metro Manila, Olongapo City, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Tarlac, Lucena City, Pangasinan, Rizal, Angeles City, Bacolod City, Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro City, Cebu City, Davao City, Iloilo City and Naga City.

On April 2, 2008, SM Investments Corp. (the parent company to SM Prime) announced that it would participate in a $1 billion casino project in Manila. The 40-hectare Bagong Nayong Pilipino-Manila Bay Integrated Tourism Project consists of a casino, hotels, shopping malls and other entertainment facilities.^[1]

History

The roots of SM date back to the 1950s when entrepreneur Henry Sy, Sr. established a shoe store in Carriedo, the then-central business district of Manila. His aggressive and adamant strategy helped him gain large profits within a few years and he later expanded his business in Quiapo to become a fully functioning department store named "Shoemart", specialising in the sale of shoes, the sector of which the store originally was. Shoemart was later abbreviated to SM and became commonly known as "SM" or "Shoemart" by the locals. The SM in Carriedo was later abandoned and moved in the present site in Quiapo near the Manila LRT Yellow Line. The old site was demolished in 1982.

The first SM Supermall, SM City North EDSA, was opened in 1985 and started the Philippine "malling" phenomenon. Sy observed the malling hobby of Filipinos and opted to make every SM Supermall like an amusement park. All SM Supermalls contain at least one or more amusement facilities, such as cinemas, bowling alleys, convention centres and game arcades.

Located in several cities and areas in Metro Manila, as well as major provincial cities, each SM is easily accessible and situated by places of public interest (churches, schools, major roads and highways, etc). SM opened its first department store outside Metro Manila (SM Delgado) in Iloilo City in 1979 and was relaunched in 2004.

The first ice skating rink in the Philippines was opened in SM Megamall in 1991. With this first, SM introduced Filipinos to an art-sport otherwise unpopular in tropical countries. The SM Supermalls also house 146 cinemas (with over 103,708 total seating capacity), making SM Prime Holdings the largest cinema operator in the country.

As of 2006, SM Prime Holdings is embarking on an aggressive expansion program within the next five years. In preparation for this expansion, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. has amassed a total landbank of 96.6 hectares in 10 strategic locations. Included are attractive properties in provinces where urbanization is steadily underway, such as Cabanatuan, Pangasinan and Bulacan.

By 2006, five additional SM Supermalls will be operational, including the SM Mall of Asia. This is SM Prime Holdings most expensive project to date.

The SM Group has engaged in other retail endeavors through other SM related companies such as, among others: Watsons Personal Care Stores, Inc., a joint-venture with Hutchison-Whampoa Ltd. of Hong Kong; International Toy World (Toy Kingdom); Ace Hardware Philippines, a joint-venture with Ace Hardware Corporation USA; Star Appliance Center; Surplus Shop; Sports Central; Baby and Co.; Home World; and Our Home. The amusement center is SM Storyland.

There are plans to open stores in North America, Australia and Japan.

Malls

Philippines

China

Branch in USA

• SM Guam
  • 42,000 sq ft (3,900 m²). Opened 2006 in the Agana Shopping Center in Guam, which SM also bought and repaired after it was severely damaged by a typhoon. It is the 1st SM store on US territorial soil since a previous attempt in the 1970s—before SM had grown into a retail giant.^[2]

Standalone department stores

The SM standalone department stores are some of the first department stores before it grew into a big business.

Standalone supermarkets and hypermarkets

The SM Group's standalone supermarkets and hypermarkets are not within the listed entity of SM Prime, but are in the parent to SM Prime, namely SM Investments (SMIC).

Makro

Pilipinas Makro, which operates the Makro stores in the Philippines was originally a partnership between the Sy family's SM Group, SHV Holdings N.V. of the Netherlands, and the Ayala group.

In 2004, the Ayala group sold its 28% interest in Makro to its joint-venture partners, and in late 2007 SM Investments folded the Makro stores into its operations after it increased its ownership of Pilipinas Makro to 60%. The SM group now holds 100% of Makro, but due to the economic slowdown in the Philippines and poor acceptance of the Makro wholesale concept, some Makro outlets will be converted into SM Hypermarkets in the next few years.

External links

• SM Prime Holdings
• SM Appliance Center

References