LOCAL DEBT watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings) retained its PRS Aaa rating for SM Investment Corp. (SMIC)’s outstanding bonds worth P47.3 billion.
The rating is the highest on PhilRatings’ credit scale, indicating that SMIC has an “extremely strong” capacity to meet its financial commitment. The debt watcher also gave the rating a stable outlook, which means that it is unlikely to change in the next 12 months.
PhilRatings took into account SMIC’s solid financial profile, leading market position in its core businesses, and progressive growth strategy, among others, in coming up with the ratings.
SMIC is the holding firm of the country’s richest man Henry Sy, Sr., with core interests in property, retail, and banking.
SM Prime Holdings, Inc., which handles the group’s interest in malls, residences, offices, hotels and convention centers, operates the most number of malls in the country at 67 covering over eight million square meters (sq.m.) by the end of 2017. SM Prime also has seven malls in China with a gross floor area (GFA) of 1.3 million sq.m.
The company is slated to end the year with 73 malls in the Philippines, with all the new ones to be built in the provinces, namely SM Center Imus in Cavite, SM City Urdaneta Central in Pangasinan, SM City Legazpi in Albay, SM City Ormoc, and SM City Dagupan.
Combined with the seven malls in China, SM Prime expects to end the year with a GFA of 9.7 million sq.m.
SMIC is also the leading player in the domestic retail market through SM Retail, with a total of 1,674 stores under its portfolio by the end of March 2018. The store network includes 59 SM Stores, 53 SM Supermarkets, 186 SaveMore stores, 47 SM Hypermarkets, 46 Walter Mart stores, and 1,283 specialty stores such as Miniso, Pet Express, Watsons, and Surplus.
The company noted that around 80% of the new stores under SM Retail are located outside Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, the Sy group’s banking unit, BDO Unibank, Inc., is considered the largest bank in the country in terms of consolidated resources, customer loans, deposits, assets under management and capital, as well as branch and ATM network. — Arra B. Francia
