MPIC may shelve IPO plans for hospital arm

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the infrastructure conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangiinan, is not likely to proceed with a previous plan to do an initial public offering for its hospital arm Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI).

MPHHI president and CEO Augusto Palisoc Jr. said the company would instead have a private transaction.

“I think I’ve been successful in convincing them (MPIC) not to IPO the hospital space so it would be a more of a private transaction,” Palisoc said. 

This means MPIC would just sell a portion of its stake in the hospital business in order to raise funds to finance other projects.

MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said the dynamics surrounding the IPO have changed and that the funding requirement is a lot more benign now because interest rates have gone down. 

“Several months ago interest rates were high,” Nicol said. 

MPIC was earlier looking to raise around P15 billion to P20 billion from the planned sale of shares in the hospital group.

The hospital arm is a major contributor to MPIC’s revenue. 

MPHHI reported a 17 percent rise in aggregate revenue in the first quarter on a 10 percent increase in outpatient visits to 919,539 and in inpatient admissions to 50,227.  The company’s core income, meanwhile, grew 28 percent.

Moving forward, MPHHI continues to role out improved patient care across its network of hospitals and to establish new service centers in the communities it serves. 

Because of MPHHI’s strong performance, market analysts and investment bankers have been looking forward to an IPO by the company. 

In all, MPHHI is continuously growing its hospital portfolio and is driving enhancements in patient care offerings and providing new service centers for the communities it serves. 

Among its portfolio of hospitals in Metro Manila are the Jesus Delgado Memorial Hospital,  Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and Marikina Valley Medical Center. 

Aside from these facilities, MPHHI also has at least five provincial hospitals namely Davao Doctors Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga, and Sacred Heart Hospital in Malolos, Bulacan.