Philab to raise up to $150 million

Philab Holdings Corporation, the only company backing genomics in the country, is planning to raise $100 million to $150 million by selling new shares to investors to fund its planned satellite clinics nationwide.

In an interview, Philab Chairman and CEO Tom Navasero said the planned capital raising program will mean that his stake in the company will be diluted from the current 80 percent to 30-40 percent.

“We'll only take equity. We'll not go into debt. I know it's dilutive, but we're not here to keep control of our large company,” he explained.

To raise fresh capital, Navasero said “I have commitments from specific investors, family funds that are very keen on what we're doing. They love genetics, they love satellite clinics, they love healthcare, they love rural health.”

Just last Friday, Navasero announced that Philab was able to raise $10 million from a new share subscription by one of the firm’s committed investors and this will be used to fund their collaboration deal with US-based Veritas Genetics in the Asia Pacific region.

He said the bulk of the capital raised, about $100 million, will be used by Philab to finance its planned nationwide roll-out of about 60 satellite clinics which it calls PhilSat.

“We're leasing space so we can set them up in 30 to 45 days. They'll be modern, equipped with the most modern technology and we can put them up to reduce the cost of healthcare across the country,” said Navasero.

He explained that PhilSat will be a primary care clinic that will be attached to a larger hospital. It will offer services such as dialysis and physical therapy and other facilities depending on what is absent and needed in the site.

“The design is very modern, very clean. We want to make sure the mechanics are clean, self-serving, maybe a pharmacy. We'll have roaming doctors and, if it does not have a doctor, that facility will be connected via satellite, via broadband (to our hub),” said Navasero.

Philab will also be looking to partner with the government, through the Department of Health (DOH) and PhilHealth. “It's a private sector initiative but we want to augment it with the DOH… DOH or PhilHealth will provide for some of the services,” said Navasero.