MPIC to proceed with hospital IPO

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the infrastructure conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, will proceed with its plan to list its hospital arm despite the prevailing market uncertainties.

MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said MPIC’s plan for Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI) to do an initial public offering is on track.

“We think it’s a fantastic IPO.

Our target is still second half of 2019,” Nicol said.

Asked about the size of the public offer, he said considerations would be getting a fair valuation and putting into account other funding initiatives of the company.

MPHHI is the hospital arm of the conglomerate and is a major contributor to revenues.

It reported a 15 percent rise in aggregate revenues in the January to September period.

This as the company saw an 11 percent increase in out- patient visits to 2,534,985 and a 15 percent growth in in-patient admissions to 143,579.

Part of this performance is a result of investments the company made in Jesus Delgado Memorial Hospital in Quezon City and St. Elizabeth Hospital in General Santos City in 2017.

In  August, MPHHI also acquired an additional 14.75 percent share in Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH). The result of this tender increased its ownership to 49.91 percent from 35.16 percent previously.

Because of MPHHI’s strong performance, market analysts and investment bankers are looking forward to the initial public offering of the company.

In all, MPHHI is continuously growing its hospital portfolio and is driving enhancements in patient care offerings and providing new service centers for the communities it serves.

Last year, it acquired the Delgado Clinic Inc. (DCI), the family-owned company that operates the Dr. Jesus C. Delgado Memorial Hospital in Quezon City.

The Jesus Delgado hospital is MPHHI’s eight hospital in Metro Manila. Others are Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and Marikina Valley Medical Center.

Aside from these facilities, MPHHI also has at least five 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.

It is also studying the viability of putting up its own hospital on top of acquiring existing ones.

Proceeds of the IPO, if ever, would likely be for the continuous expansion of its hospital network.