Posted on October 24, 2013 10:24:07 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. (MPIC)
has sealed a deal to acquire a controlling stake in a Tarlac-based hospital for
P187 million, the conglomerate said in a disclosure yesterday.
“MPIC finalized today its acquisition
of a 51% equity stake in Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital (CLDH) in Tarlac City,
completing a deal signed in June 2013,” the disclosure read.
CLDH, Tarlac’s largest private
hospital, is a 200-bed tertiary hospital founded in 1962 by 15 doctors.
Fresh funds from MPIC will pave the
way for construction of a new four-storey building, which will house an
advanced diagnostic imaging center equipped initially with a 64-slice Computed
Tomography scan and digital x-ray machines, and eventually a 1.5 Tesla Magnetic
Resonance Imaging and a digital mammography machine, the company said. The new
building, planned to be completed by 2015, will also have an operating room and
delivery room complex, a complete neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) and a
modern ICU.
CLDH has also appointed Ferdinand
Francis L. Cid as the new president and chief executive officer of the
hospital, effective Oct. 1. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Cid was the dean of
the San Beda College of Medicine.
CLDH is the eighth medical center in
MPIC’s hospital portfolio, bringing the group’s total bed capacity to 2,137.
MPIC already controls Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center,
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Asian Hospital and De Los Santos Medical Center
in Metro Manila; as well as Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City and Davao
Doctors Hospital in Davao City.
MPIC Chief Executive Officer Jose Ma.
K. Lim in March said his firm had earmarked some P3.5 billion to acquire four 200-bed
hospitals in the provinces.
The holding firm’s net income jumped
14.06% to P5.84 billion in the first half from P5.12 billion in the same period
last year, driven by revenue growth from its utilities and hospital businesses.
Operating revenues increased 12.26% to P15.29 billion from P13.62 billion,
while cost of sales and services rose by a slower 6.83% to P5.63 billion from
P5.27 billion.
Shares of MPIC shed four centavos or
0.84% to close at P4.75 apiece yesterday from P4.79 on Wednesday.
MPIC is the local unit of Hong
Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., which partly owns Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust
Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld.
-- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon
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