METRO Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPH), the hospital arm of the Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC), expects to complete its acquisition of San Francisco Doctors Hospital in Agusan del Sur this month or by September.
MPH signed an investment agreement for a 72-percent stake in San Francisco Doctors Hospital, making it the 25th hospital in the group.
“Technically, it’s not yet completed because [this] required an investment of capital infusion to the company, and we need to get certain approvals for the capital increase, so we’re waiting for that before we can officially call it a completed acquisition,” MP Health President Augusto Palisoc Jr. told reporters earlier.
“For this year, our battle cry is ‘four more in ’24,'” he said.
Palisoc noted that the group had invested in four new hospitals in 2023, boosting their hospital portfolio to 23 from 19 last year.
This year, MPH acquired a majority stake in UHBI-Parañaque Doctors Hospital last May. Palisoc has said that MPH has been keen to have a presence in Parañaque City, as the city is a key market between the cities of Makati and Muntinlupa.
“So far, we have one — Parañaque Doctors. Then the second one [is San Francisco Doctors Hospital], so we had to work [more],” the MPH chief said.
Palisoc did not specify other hospitals they are planning to invest in as “negotiations are sensitive,” adding that MPH will announce further acquisitions once they materialize.
“Rest assured that we continue to always look for hospital investments. There are a lot of places in the Philippines that the hospital group has no presence in,” he added.
“Our success has been on the back of basically investing in existing hospitals and either turning them around if they’re not doing well or growing them even if they’re doing well,” he continued.
He further said that MPH preferred to acquire or invest in hospitals rather than building their own.
“I think that will remain to be our preferred thrust. I mean, you know, not to say that we’re closing our door on greenfields, but I think that that will come in due course,” Palisoc added.
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