Philippine shopping mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc said Friday it has finalized a plan to acquire three malls in China, involving a share swap agreement valued at 8.5 billion pesos with the owners of the mainland malls. The deal was signed with the group of billionaire Henry Sy, which controls SM Prime as well as the malls located in Jinjiang, Xiamen and Chengdu, it said. SM Prime is controlled by Sy's conglomerate SM Investments Corp.

In a statement, SM Prime said it will issue 372.5 million new company shares to Sy's Oriental Land Development Ltd in exchange for control of Mega Make Enterprises Ltd, which owns 100 percent of SM Jinjiang.  SM Prime will also swap 540.4 million new shares for 100 percent equity in Affluent Capital Enterprises, which owns SM Xiamen and SM Chengdu. Affluent Capital is currently owned by Sy's Grand China International Ltd.  Based on the closing price of SM Prime shares on Friday, the deal is valued at 8.5 billion pesos.  SM Prime closed up 10 centavos or 1.1 percent at 9.30 pesos.  SM Investments was up 2.50 pesos or 0.9 percent at 287.50 pesos.