MPC delays Zamboanga asset purchase

Infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. has pushed back plans to acquire a major hospital in Zamboanga City after buy-in talks were stalled by the recent armed clashes between the government and a rebel group, the company’s top official said.

Metro Pacific chair Manuel V. Pangilinan has told reporters that the company was still looking to close the deal, possibly in 2014.

He said the hospital’s owners requested a “slight postponement” adding that the hospital, described as one of the largest within the city, was affected “but not significantly” by the incident, which ended in late September.

“Anytime they are ready to talk, we are keen to pursue our investment there,” Pangilinan said. He declined to name the hospital.

Metro Pacific, the country’s biggest operator of private hospitals, has been keen on acquisitions, as it aims to increase earnings contributions, now amounting to about 7 percent of net operating income though its eight hospitals.

The healthcare unit has a combined 2,150 beds but the plan is to increase this to at least 3,000 beds.

Metro Pacific mainly earns from its investments in Maynilad Water Service Inc., Manila Electric Co., and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.

The company’s most recent hospital acquisition was the 200-bed Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac last October, which Metro Pacific bought for P188.8 million.

Earlier this year, it acquired the 150-bed De Los Santos Medical Center in Quezon City. Included in the transaction is affiliate Megaclinic, a mall-based ambulatory diagnostic and surgical center, marking Metro Pacific’s first investment in a non-hospital-based health facility.

Metro Pacific reported this week that the hospital group posted core earnings of P670 million, up 24 percent, for the nine months through September. This was credited to higher patient revenues, lower losses at its nursing schools and tighter expense controls.

The healthcare unit now comprises Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Asian Hospital and DLSMC in Metro Manila; Central Luzon Doctors; Riverside Medical Center in the Visayas; and Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao.  Miguel R. Camus