MPIC allots P3.5 B for hospital portfolio

MANILA, Philippines - The healthcare group of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is allotting P3.5 billion this year to expand its foothold in the country’s hospital sector.

The amount forms part of the P25-billion available equity funding for MPIC’s operating units announced in February, a top company executive said.

“In the hospitals, we have allocated about P3.5 billion for the acquisitions or additional ownership in existing hospitals,” MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim told reporters.

“The budget calls for four hospitals. But these will be small hospitals,” he said.

Lim said the company is eyeing hospitals with capacity of 200 beds or less located in Southern Luzon, Central Luzon and Cebu province.

MPIC’s hospital group is the country’s largest private chain of hospitals. In November, it signed a deal to acquire 51 percent of the 150-bed De Los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC) in Quezon City for P250 million, allowing the group to reach the 2,000-bed capacity.

DLSMC became the seventh hospital in MPIC’s total healthcare network and the fifth in Metro Manila.

Aside from acquisitions, the P3.5 billion budget will also be used to increase MPIC’s stake in existing hospitals, Lim said.

“We would like to increase the number of beds as well as ownership in our existing hospitals to allow us to be a significant contributor,” Lim said.

To date, the healthcare group accounts for five percent of MPIC’s business. Its aggregate core net income jumped 29 percent to P722 million last year.

Asked on plans to create a separate vehicle for the hospital business, Lim said: “We are contemplating, as soon as we get enough critical mass.”

MPIC also owns and controls Asian Hospital Inc. in Muntinlupa, Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Sta. Mesa, Manila, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod and Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao.

On the parent company level, Lim said MPIC has a war chest of P25 billion, particularly coming from a P6.12-billion share sale in January and available credit lines.

“That is quite a substantial amount that we will have to invest first before we have any other equity fundraising,” Lim said.

Specifically, MPIC plans to expand the toll roads under Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and buy a majority stake in Subic Water & Sewerage Co. Inc. through Maynilad Water Services Inc., Lim said.