MPIC looking at 3 more hospitals to acquire this year

Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) is looking at acquiring two to three hospitals in the provinces within the year.

MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan refused to name the hospitals they are eyeing to takeover but hinted that these facilities are located outside of Metro Manila.

“We are looking at two or three hospitals outside of Metro Manila and we are looking at closing the transaction within the year,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the launching of internet.org initiative of Facebook with the PLDT Group.

MPIC currently has stakes in eight hospitals and one mall-based clinic, Megaclinic. It owns 33.4 percent stake at Makati Medical Center, 85.56 percent of Asia Hospital, 51 percent of De Los Santos Medical Center, 51 percent of Central Luzon Doctors Hospital in Tarlac, 51 percent of Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, and 34.85 percent of Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao. MPIC has also secured 20-year contracts to operate and manage the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

For MPIC’s toll way business, Pangilinan confirmed that Southeast Asia is the next frontier for Metro Pacific Tollway Corp. (MPIC), saying they are eyeing investment in Indonesia next.

MPTC currently owns 75.6 percent of the Manila North Tollway Corp. and 46 percent of Tollway Management Corp., which operates the North Luzon Expressway and Subic- Clark-Tarlac Expressway. MPTC likewise owns 100 percent of Cavite Infrastructure Corp., which in turn operates the ManilaCavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex).

MPIC, meanwhile, is controlled by Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. and has 29 percent share in Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd (DMT), which operates a 21.9-kilometer elevated toll road stretching from Din Daeng in central Bangkok past Don Muang Airport and on to the National Monument in the north of the Thai capital.

MPIC also owns 45 percent stake at CII Bridges and Roads Investment ( CII B& R), which operates four toll roads in Vietnam with a total length of 20 kilometers. CII B&R is building three more toll roads spanning about 55 kilometers in total.