Philippine developer SM Prime revives US$1 billion Reit IPO

SM PRIME Holdings is considering reviving an initial public offering (IPO) of a real estate investment trust (Reit) that could raise as much as US$1 billion, said people familiar with the matter, in what would be the largest such listing in the Philippines.

The company has restarted discussions with advisers on listing its shopping mall portfolio through the Reit, the people said, requesting anonymity as the information is private. A first-time share sale in Manila could happen as soon as the fourth quarter, they added.

Deliberations are preliminary, and SM Prime could still decide against a transaction, they also said.

A representative for SM Prime did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

At US$1 billion, the listing could be the biggest in the Philippines by a Reit, surpassing RL Commercial Reit’s US$450 million offering in September 2021, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. There have been no IPOs in the country so far this year.

Founded in 1994, SM Prime is the largest shopping-mall developer and operator in the Philippines. It has 82 malls in the country and seven malls in China. SM Prime has also expanded into developing residential projects, office buildings and hotel and convention centres.

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The company has been exploring a Reit IPO for some of its assets to raise funds since at least 2020, when president Jeffrey Lim confirmed that it was planning a Reit offering and said that no banks had been formally appointed. In 2022, ahead of a mall unit listing, he mentioned the possibility of packaging office space assets in a Reit.

Shares of SM Prime have fallen about 6 per cent in the past 12 months, giving the company a market value of about US$19.2 billion. BLOOMBERG