MPIC acquires majority stake in GenSan hospital

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the tollways and infrastructure conglomerate led by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, is expanding its hospital portfolio.

In a disclosure yesterday, MPIC said its healthcare holding company, Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI), has acquired a stake in St. Elizabeth Hospital Inc. in General Santos City.

MPHHI acquired 108,350 shares, representing approximately 54 percent stake in the hospital, from the prominent and pioneering Veneracion family of General Santos City for P 1,642.04 per share or a total P177.9 million.

MPIC has the option to increase its ownership to 80 percent in the future and expand the facility.

“In the near future, MPHHI may infuse additional capital in SEHI, to expand and improve its facilities and purchase the latest medical equipment, that may increase its ownership to 80 percent,” MPIC said.

MPHHI president and CEO Augusto Palisoc Jr. lauded the Veneracion family for allowing the group to invest in the family-owned institution.

“We thank them for allowing us to invest in their hospital, and for their continued active participation in both the board and management of SEHI,” he said.

SEHI is MPIC’s third hospital investment in Mindanao, Palisoc said.

“This is our own small contribution to the government’s thrust to spur economic development in Southern Philippines,” he said.

SEHI is a 248-bed tertiary level hospital located along Santiago Boulevard corner National Highway in General Santos City. It traces its roots to 1962 when Dr. Jesus C. Veneracion Sr., fresh from his post-graduate training in General Surgery in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, started a 25-bed hospital, the first in what was then called Dadiangas.

From then on, SEHI has continually expanded and upgraded its service capabilities, capped by it being the first health care institution in the region to be ISO 9001:2008 certified.

Antonio ‘Tony’ G. Veneracion, representative of the Veneracion family, said they are happy to partner with MPHHI, the largest private hospital group in the country.

“We wanted to work with no less than the biggest and the best in the industry in leapfrogging to the next level of growth for SEHI, which my parents nurtured into the top hospital in the city for the past 55 years. We have seen how MPHHI has not only preserved but enhanced the legacy of all the hospitals in its portfolio and how well they work with their shareholder partners. And so we are very confident that our vision of firmly establishing SEHI as the premier hospital in Region XII will soon be fulfilled,” he said.

SEHI brings to 14 MPHHI’s nationwide portfolio of hospitals including five other provincial hospitals, namely Davao Doctors Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga and Sacred Heart Hospital in Malolos, Bulacan.

Eight hospitals are located in Metro Manila. These are Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Marikina Valley Medical Center and Jesus Delgado Memorial Hospital.

Completing MPHHI’s healthcare portfolio are two healthcare colleges Davao Doctors College and Riverside College in Bacolod, two primary care clinics Megaclinic in SM Megamall Ortigas and TopHealth in SM San Lazaro, and a newly built cancer center in joint venture with Lipa Medix in Batangas.