MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific
Investments Corp. (MPIC) is in talks with a number of Quezon City and
Manila-based hospitals for possible acquisition or investments, as the
country’s biggest hospital group continues to expand its chain.
In an interview with The STAR, MPIC
hospital group president Augie Palisoc said: “We continue to talk with a number
of alternatives.”
Asked when they can clinch a deal,
Palisoc emphasized that “it depends on when we can complete a deal with a
hospital in Quezon City and/or Manila.”
MPIC, through its hospital group, is
eyeing the acquisition or management of several other hospitals in Metro Manila
as well as in other parts of the country.
MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan
earlier told The STAR that they want to target their acquisition to 5,000
hospital beds.
He revealed that they are looking at
one hospital in Manila. “We are also interested in managing or acquiring the
different hospitals owned by the government such as the Philippine Heart
Center, Kidney Center, Lung Center, among others, in case government decides to
privatize them,” he said.
Pangilinan also said the group is
particularly keen on owning or managing a hospital in Cebu.
MPIC earlier completed the acquisition
of the 219-bed Asian Hospital Inc. in Alabang, Muntinlupa. The group first
acquired a total of 1.094 billion common shares representing 56.5 percent of
AHI’s outstanding capital stock from Bumrungrad International Ltd, Bumrungrad
International Philippines Inc. and Neptune Stroika Holdings Inc., then made a
tender offer for the remaining 43.5 percent.
The MPIC group now has six hospitals
in its network. The group owns Makati Medical Center, and manages Cardinal
Santos Medical Center in San Juan and the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Sta.
Mesa. Manila. MPIC has also invested in Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod and
Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao.
Asian Hospital was earlier being eyed
as a center for medical tourism by its former owners, but Palisoc said this is
not a priority for MPIC.
“Medical tourism will be a good medium
to long-term for our hospitals but this is not the priority intention. The main
objective is to improve the quality of our hospitals so that they could provide
good care primarily to our own countrymen,” Palisoc told The STAR.
The acquisition of the 219-bed Asian
Hospital has brought to 2,109 the number of beds in the MPIC hospital network.
MPIC has earlier expressed interest in
making a pitch to own or manage government hospitals, including the National
Orthopedic Hospital.
MPIC is the biggest infrastructure
investment firm in the country with stakes in the country’s biggest toll road
firm, largest hospital group and its largest electricity and water
distributors. It benefitted from higher contributions by all of its businesses.
MPIC’s contribution to parent, Hongkong-based First Pacific Co., rose 35
percent in the first half of 2012 to $47.7 million from $35.4 million a year
earlier.
MPIC said that its hospital business
is maintaining growth, reaching towards a medium-term goal of P10 billion
revenues and P1 billion core net income for 2012.
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