ACE pursues IPO, to raise P1.44B to fund new hospital

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a plan by Allied Care Experts (ACE) Medical Center Iloilo Inc. to raise as much as P1.44 billion from an initial public offering, proceeds from which would fund the ongoing construction of a 200-bed tertiary hospital in Jaro, Iloilo City.

Based on the prospectus cleared by the SEC, ACE Medical plans to offer as many as 36,000 primary shares, bringing to public hands 15 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

The 36,000 primary shares to be offered to the public will be sold in blocks of 10 shares each. Each of the 3,600 blocks will be offered at a price ranging from P250,000 to as much as P400,000. This range suggests that the par value per share is P1,000, based on the prospectus.

The net proceeds are estimated at up to P956.93 million, 40 percent of which will be used to complete the construction of a nine-story tertiary hospital in Jaro. Some 30 percent will be used to buy medical equipment while 20 percent will go to pre-operating expenses. The rest will be spent on hospital/office furnishing and other professional fees.

As of end-November, the hospital building was reportedly 75-percent constructed. Expected building inauguration is in September 2019.

Incorporated in 2014, ACE Medical is led by its chair Amado Manuel Enriquez Jr. and president Ferjenel Biron. The founders are Fredilyn Samoro, Meride Lavilla, Ma. Grace Perez, Agnes Jean Villaflor and Danilo Regozo.

“It is the mission of ACE Medical Center-Iloilo to set up a tertiary health care facility with an organized, systematic, cost-effective, sympathetic and holistic approach to its goal in providing the best quality and justifiable medical services to its clients and stakeholders,” the prospectus said.

Upon construction, ACE Medical intends to operate as a secondary hospital, after which it intends to secure accreditation for the residency training of its doctors and set up a tertiary hospital.

ACE Medical Center-Iloilo is being constructed in a 6,000-square meter property in Barangay Sambag, Ungka 1, Jaro.

To date, the major stockholders have committed to fund the construction, development, preoperations and start-up costs of the hospital. The project will be bankrolled by a P1.06-billion credit facility from the state-controlled Land Bank of the Philippines.