Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc., the hospital investment arm of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said Monday it will take over the operation of a 110-bed hospital in Zamboanga City.
Metro Pacific said in a disclosure to the stock exchange MPHHI through wholly-owned subsidiary Metro Pacific Zamboanga Hospital Corp. signed a long term lease of the land, buildings and equipment of Western Mindanao Medical Center.
WMMC, which will be rebranded as West Metro Medical Center, is a hospital with 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 said.
Under the agreement, MPHHI will install a new management team and will infuse capital to complete a four-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 nationwide chain of private hospitals, the largest in the Philippines at 2,244 beds.
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.
Metro Pacific chairman Manuel Pangilinan earlier said the company’s hospital group planned to acquire 12 hospitals this year, which would bring its network of medical facilities to 20.
The conglomerate said it was eyeing hospitals outside Metro Manila for possible acquisitions. It is also considering putting up satellite diagnostic centers to expand its network.
The conglomerate is actively on the look out for investments in the healthcare sector after getting GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund through its private equity arm, as its strategic partner for the hospital business.
GIC in May agreed to invest P3.7 billion for an initial 14.4-percent stake in Metro Pacific’s hospital unit.
The Singaporean fund will also advance to Metro Pacific some P6.5 billion through an exchangeable bond that it can swap for an additional 25.5-percent stake in NSHI in the future, subject to certain conditions.
Aside from hospital, Metro Pacific also has investments in toll road, power generation and water utility.