METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is stepping up its efforts to meet its health-care subsidiary’s 5,000-bed target through the acquisition of 12 more hospitals around the Philippines.
In a chance interview, businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said his company will acquire about “a dozen” hospitals outside the capital.
“There’s concentration here in Metro Manila, so we’re looking mostly for hospitals outside Metro Manila,” he said.
Earlier, Pangilinan said his firm is negotiating with “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,” he said. The funding for the acquisition of more hospitals will partly come from the P2-billion capital spending that the health-care group has programmed for this year.
In June 2013 the holding company acquired a 51-percent stake in Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac. This brought the total capacity of the health-care subsidiary to 2,137 beds.
The Hospital Group has significant investments in De Los Santos Medical Center; Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinlupa City; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Santa Mesa, Manila; Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City; Davao Doctors Hospital and Nursing College; and Makati Medical Center in Makati City.
The infrastructure giant saw profits rise by 15 percent to P6.5 billion in the first nine months of 2014 from P5.6 billion the year prior, driven by the robust income of its four major businesses.