MPIC eyes own hospital

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the infrastructure conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, is studying the viability of putting up its own hospital on top of acquiring existing ones. 

Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI) president and chief executive officer Augusto Palisoc Jr. said the company’s thrust is to acquire existing hospitals, but it is also studying putting up its own.

“We still continue to study a greenfield hospital project, but we will not embark on three or four at the same time. Probably we will start with one and make it work,” Palisoc told reporters in a recent briefing.

He said acquiring existing hospitals is more economically viable than starting from scratch which entails a lot of cash.

If MPHHI decides to put up its own hospital, it may be a specialty hospital instead of a general hospital, of which Palisoc said there are already too many.  

“If we do get it, we will do a specialty hospital as opposed to general hospital  which are dime a dozen now. We are also looking at hospital care ventures,” Palisoc said.  

The company has recently completed a greenfield clinic and would be opening another clinic in Muntinlupa and another one in the north.  

The other format the company is investing in is cancer centers.

“We already have a joint venture with Lipa Medics in Batangas… and in a month or two, we will be opening up another in in Central Luzon,” Palisoc said.

MPIC’s hospital business through MPHHI, the hospital arm, which reported a 15 percent rise in aggregate revenue in the first half, driven by a 12 percent increase in out-patient visits to 1,640,482 and a 15 percent growth in in-patient admissions to 91,295. 

Last week, the conglomerate reported a 10 percent increase in consolidated core net income in the first half to P8.6 billion from P7.8 billion a year ago.

Consolidated net income attributable to owners of the parent company rose by 14 percent to P8.9 billion during the period. 

By business segment, power accounted for P5.8 billion or 55 percent of net operating income; while toll roads contributed P2.3 billion or 21 percent. The water business contributed P2.1 billion or 20 percent and the hospitals group’s contribution was P338 million or three percent.

The rail, logistics and systems group delivered P60 million or the remaining one percent of net operating income. 

Moving forward, Pangilinan expressed hopes the strong performance of MPIC companies during the period  will continue, especially if tariff issues are resolved.

“That said, I remain optimistic that settlement will be reached at the end of the day. Uncertainty is felt by investors in our financial market and by counterparties unsure of such resolutions. In the meantime, we are doing our best to support the government’s Build Build Build program but tariff resolution will certainly help such program be financeable.”