Infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. has completed the purchase of a controlling stake in Tarlac’s largest private hospital, Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital (CLDH), the eighth hospital in its growing chain of healthcare-related business nationwide.
The group led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan is also looking at a new hospital deal involving another 200-bed hospital in Zamboanga.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, MPIC said an agreement had been signed for the Pangilinan-led firm to infuse P187 million in cash to obtain a 51 percent equity in CLDH.
The CLDH deal—which will increase the total capacity of the MPIC Hospital Group to 2,137 beds—is still subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions and is expected to be finalized sometime in the third quarter of this year.
CLDH is a 200-bed tertiary hospital founded in 1962 by 15 pioneering doctors led by the late spouses Constante Quirino Sr. and Remedios P. Quirino and Benjamin Paz.
The fresh funding from MPIC will go toward the purchase of major medical equipment and the implementation of an infrastructure development plan highlighted by the construction of a new building to house new operating rooms, as well as additional patient beds and doctors’ clinics, the disclosure said.
“We are honored to have been given this opportunity to invest in a medical facility like CLDH with such a long legacy as Tarlac’s leading healthcare provider. This is also our first investment in a hospital in Luzon outside Metro Manila,” said Augusto Palisoc Jr., president and CEO of the MPIC hospital group.
“Through our contributions by way of fresh capital, professional management assistance, and group synergies, we hope to further expand the capabilities of CLDH so that residents of Central Luzon in general, and Tarlac in particular, can continue to receive first-class health care right in their home province,” he added.
The Metro Pacific group had been in talks with the Quirino family regarding this acquisition for years. The Inquirer reported in 2011 the discussions on the prospective acquisition of CLDH.
This Tarlac hospital has an authorized capital base of P200 million consisting of two million shares, one million of which are preferred shares and one million common shares with a par value of P100 each. Subscribed capital consisted of 7,375 preferred shares and 9,947 common shares.
In an interview, Pangilinan said MPIC hoped to close more hospital deals this year.
“We are looking at provincial hospitals, at least in the nuclear cities of the country,” he said.
On the 200-bed hospital eyed in Zamboanga, Pangilinan said closing was “within the year hopefully.”
“We are still in preliminary talks but I think the target is to close three hospitals [this year],” he said, counting in CLDH, Delos Santos Medical Center and the prospective acquisition in Zamboanga.
The other hospitals in MPIC’s network are: Makati Medical Center (taken over in 2007), Davao Doctors Hospital (2008), Cardinal Santos Medical Center (2009), Riverside Medical Center (2010), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (2010), and Asian Hospital (2011).
The hospital currently accounts for 5 percent of MPIC’s portfolio. Historically, Pangilinan’s group had been able to close one hospital deal every year except in 2010 when it closed two (Riverside and Lourdes).
MPIC is also willing to hike its stake in all the hospitals in the existing network whether by buying out other shareholders or subscribing to new shares through a fresh capital infusion.