MPIC buys 51% of Bacolod's largest hospital

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the local flagship of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., is taking over Riverside Medical Center Inc. (RMCI), the largest hospital in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, for a still undisclosed price.

MPIC said it signed yesterday a share purchase agreement with Torre Hermanos Agro-Industrial Enterprises Inc. to acquire a 51 percent stake in the 336-bed hospital. This investment brings MPIC’s total number of healthcare centers to four with a total capacity of over 1,300 beds.

The purchase is in line with MPIC’s goal to build the first nationwide chain of premiere hospitals in the country.

Founded by Pablo O. Torre, RMCI started as an eight-bed clinic in 1954 and has eventually expanded with medical departments comprising obstetrics and gynecology, medicine, orthopedics, ENT, pediatrics, emergency medicine, pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, imaging sciences, anesthesia, surgery, and opthalmology. 

“We would like to thank the Torre family for allowing us to partner with them in Riverside, which is a leading hospital in Western Visayas. This investment represents a vital step in realizing MPIC’s vision of creating the first nationwide chain of hospitals that will help deliver better quality healthcare services to our countrymen,” said Augie Palisoc Jr., MPIC executive director and head of the Hospital Group.

RMCI chairman and president Hector L. Torre, for his part, said: “We welcome MPIC as a new shareholder as it will provide Riverside Medical Center access to the growing hospital network, management , and financial resources of the MPIC Group.” 

The three other medical centers in MPIC’s portfolio are Makati Medical Center and Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Metro Manila and Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao. 

The deal also includes the purchase of RMCI’s wholly-owned unit Riverside College Inc., a nursing school with 2,800 students.

For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009, RMCI registered consolidated revenues of P940 million and asset base of P911 million as against liabilities of P553 million.