By Richmond S. Mercurio (The Philippine
Star) | Updated October 4, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The consortium
led by Megawide Construction Corp. has secured a P2.9-billion loan from
state-run banks to finance the rehabilitation of the decades-old Philippine
Orthopedic Center in Quezon City.
In a disclosure to the local stock
exchange, Megawide said its joint venture with World Citi Inc. had entered into
an omnibus loan and security agreement with Land Bank of the Philippines, Land
Bank of the Philippines-Trust Banking Group and Development Bank of the
Philippines.
“That is only a portion of the
financing requirements,” Megawide chief financial officer Oliver Tan said,
adding that the loan will have a 12-year tenor.
“Interest will be set on the drawdown
date,” he said.
Megawide World Citi Consortium Inc.
won last year the P5.7-billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project
involving the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center.
The build-operate-transfer project
features the construction of a 700-bed super-specialty tertiary orthopedic
hospital located within the National Kidney and Transplant Institute compound
along East Ave.
Megawide, which started as a
contractor for residential towers particularly those of SM Development Corp.,
corners 15 to 17 percent of the high-rise construction business in the
Philippines and is currently one of the country’s top building contractors.
World Citi, its partner for the
hospital upgrading project, operates the 276-bed World Citi Medical Center on
Aurora Blvd.
Megawide’s net profit dropped 26
percent to P556.06 million in the first half of this year from P747.96 million
in 2013 as it jacked up expenses for the upgrading of its software licenses.
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