TOKYO, JAPAN – Metro Pacific Health Corp. (MPH), the healthcare arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), is targeting to have 40 hospitals in its network by 2025, a company official said on Friday.
“The logic there is if it’s bigger, it will take us a bit longer to do due diligence, and if it’s smaller, it is faster,” Chaye A. Cabal-Revilla, MPIC chief finance, risk, and sustainability officer, said during a media briefing.
“Now the trajectory is faster acquisition, [especially with] respect to smaller ones (hospitals),” she added.
MPH currently has 23 hospitals in its network, including the recent acquisition of a 60.88% stake in Lucena United Doctors Hospital and Medical Center (LUDHMC).
According to Ms. Cabal-Revilla, MPH is aiming to add two more hospitals in its network within yearend or by early next year.
MPH is also aiming to expand in regional areas, she noted.
“We are looking at expanding our footprint in the regional areas, specifically medium-sized hospitals in those regions.”
“For now, in terms of the number of beds and the size of the investment, we’ve pretty much acquired the biggest ones in Greater Metro Manila,” she added
Some of MPH’s other hospitals include Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center, and Davao Doctors Hospital.
MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of First Pacific, the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave