MANUEL V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. has sealed a deal to operate a hospital in Zamboanga City, expanding its portfolio to nine health care facilities.
Metro Pacific, through Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc., the largest private operator of hospitals in the Philippines, will operate the 110-bed Western Mindanao Medical Center.
Metro Pacific, which is involved in power distribution, water services and tollroads, added that the company had proposed to rename Western Mindanao Medical Center to “West Metro Medical Center.”
Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings itself is a recently formed unit of Metro Pacific Investments.
The company signed last March 27 a long-term lease for the “land, buildings and equipment of Western Mindanao Medical Center,” said to have a 25-year history of service in Zamboanga.
“The effectivity of the lease and the official opening of West Metro Medical Center are subject to several conditions precedent, including fulfillment of certain regulatory requirements,” Metro Pacific Investments said. It did not disclose any financial details.
Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings will install a new management team and will infuse capital to complete a 4-story annex building, which will increase the hospital’s capacity from 110 to 190 beds, making it the largest private hospital in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
West Metro Medical Center will become the ninth hospital in Metro Pacific’s growing nationwide chain of private hospitals, the largest in the Philippines at 2,244 beds.
The company earlier targeted to hit as many as 5,000 beds, although this would depend on the pace of negotiations.
Pangilinan had said the company was in ongoing discussions with several groups for hospital acquisitions.
The hospital business has been a relatively small but steady earnings contributor for Metro Pacific Investments.
In 2014, the unit accounted for 5 percent, or P465 million, of the company’s net operating income.
Other hospitals in the Metro Pacific portfolio are—Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital & Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, and Central Luzon Doctors Hospital in Tarlac. Miguel R. Camus