Lopez firm branching out into academe, health sectors

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) is branching out its business this year to education and health and wellness sector.

FPH is moving ahead with key initiatives that will contribute to its long-term goals which will include education and wellness, its president and chief operating officer Giles Puno said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.

“We decided to dive deeper and have recently launched FIRST School, a senior high school program that offers vocational training to complement the needs of the locators at FPIP (First Philippine Industrial Park Inc.),” he said.

“We also acquired a majority stake in Asian Eye Institute and are developing new strategies to reimagine healthcare and wellness beyond our current investments,” he said.

The FIRST School will train and equip students with the latest technologies and be given opportunity to work with industrial companies in the FPIP in Batangas after they graduate.

Meanwhile, FPH will use Asian Eye Institute as a vehicle for its healthcare platform. Last year, it raised its stake from a minority stake to 68 percent.

Of the total capital expenditure of P22 billion this year, FPH will be injecting up to P200 million for the education business and P100 million for the healthcare investment, its chief finance officer Emmanuel Singson said.

In particular, this year woulc be a test case for the education business’ FIRST School, Puno said.

“The industrial park is very important for the country. Obviously, locators who invest in the country through industrial parks have increased manufacturing base and we visit our locators in the industrial park, there are a lot of jobs that are available. The school is important because it fills the requirements of all the locators of the park,” he said.