Posted on November 04, 2014 10:52:00
PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
THE HEALTH CARE group of Metro Pacific
Investments Corp. (MPIC) said it is in talks to buy out four more hospitals to
meet its target of 3,000 beds by 2016, MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.
“We are now over 2,000 beds. Our
target eventually is 5,000 beds, but it will take many more years. I think our
immediate target is 3,000 beds by 2016. We have maybe 2,100 beds as we speak,
so we do need to acquire at least three or four more hospitals,” Mr. Pangilinan
said on the sidelines of a media briefing on Tuesday.
“We are talking to many (hospital
owners),” he added.
Although he did not name the takeover
targets nor say when his company is expecting to close a deal, Mr. Pangilinan
hinted that the hospitals MPIC is eyeing “are private hospitals owned by
families…”
“Some are in Metro Manila, while most
are in the provinces, which I think is good for the country and for us because
then we propagate and raise the health care level in the provinces.”
The Pangilinan-led conglomerate last
bought a hospital in June last year, when it acquired a 51% equity stake in
Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, bringing the total bed capacity of
the MPIC Hospital Group to 2,137.
The group’s other hospital investments
are: De Los Santos Medical Center (2013), Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinlupa
City (2011), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Sta. Mesa, Manila (2010),
Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental (2010), Cardinal
Santos Medical Center in San Juan City (2009),
Davao Doctors Hospital and Nursing
College (2008), and Makati Medical Center in Makati City (2007).
MPIC is a listed infrastructure
holding company with interests in water, power, tollways, and hospitals.
On Tuesday, MPIC shares ended trading
at P4.87 apiece, down 23 centavos or 4.51% from Monday’s closing price.
MPIC is one of three Philippine units
of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Company Ltd., the others being Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc.,
a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has
a majority stake in BusinessWorld. -- C. J. V. Dela Paz
