Ayala Land ventures into hospital business

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is breaking into the hospital business in a bid to integrate medical facilities in its mixed-use communities nationwide.

The move is also seen as a stepping stone to a future foray into medical tourism.

ALI announced late Monday that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Whiteknight Holdings Inc. (WHI), a company that is wholly owned by the Mercado family and a 33-percent equity stockholder of Mercado General Hospital Inc. (MGHI).

The acquisition of WHI would allow Ayala Land to build a strategic partnership with the Mercado group and support MGHI’s future growth, the statement said. It pointed out that plans for MGHI to expand across several locations nationwide where Ayala Land’s developments are located or planned to be located were also underway.

“This partnership will accelerate the provision of medical facilities in our new and existing integrated, mixed-use communities,” said Ayala Land president and CEO Antonino Aquino. “Together with our traditional residential, office, shopping center and hotel products, the new medical facilities will further enhance and complete our communities, making them the center of development in their region.”

Edwin Mercado, president and CEO of WHI, said “the partnership will allow us to realize our vision of making quality healthcare accessible to more Filipinos.”

An upcoming player in the healthcare industry, MGHI owns and operates hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers in Batangas, Cebu and Manila and is setting up another facility in Iloilo. MGHI has about 110 hospital beds in operation.

“The investment appears to support a strategy to enter the medical tourism market. We may expect more real estate projects from Ayala that cater to foreign and domestic retirees or elderly people,” said Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at local stock brokerage Campos Lanuza & Co.

“Hospitals and healthcare establishments can form the backbone support for future real estate projects that are aimed at the assisted living or trans-generational design facilities market,” he said.