Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc., the hospital investment unit of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp., is acquiring 51 percent of Sacred Heart Hospital of Malolos Inc. for P150 million.
Metro Pacific said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the unit signed an investments agreement with the SHHM, a 47-year old institution based in Bulacan.
SHHM is a level 2 hospital established in 1968 by spouses Alberto Reyes, a pioneering surgeon in Bulacan, and Juanita Reyes, an anesthesiologist.
The Bulacan hospital will use proceeds from the investment to fund an expansion program to increase patient beds and acquire various medical equipment.
“While proud of our long history and modest growth from very humble beginnings, we know we can achieve more to serve our fellow Bulaceños with the help of a corporate group like Metro Pacific. Our family welcomes this new milestone in the life of our hospital as we venture to become a bigger player in Bulacan,” said Alberto Reyes said in a statement
MPHH president Augusto Palisoc Jr. welcomed the opportunity to be part of the hospital’s growth plans.
“We thank the Reyes family for opening their doors to us and giving us this great opportunity to participate in the growth of this prestigious hospital,” Palisoc said.
MPHH is the largest private hospital chain in the Philippines with over 2,600 beds across 10 hospitals to date. Assets include six in Metro Manila (Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Asian Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and Manila Doctors Hospital) and four outside of the capital region (Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao and West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga).
The transaction is expected to be completed in January 2016 upon the fulfillment of certain conditions specified in the agreement.
SHHM is the third deal to be announced by Metro Pacific’s hospital group. MPHH in November announced plans to buy a 20-percent stake Manila Doctors Hospital along United Nations Avenue in Ermita, Manila.
Manila Doctors is a 300-bed tertiary hospital founded in 1956 by a group of pioneering doctors and later expanded in 1979 under the current leadership of the George Ty Group through Metrobank Foundation Inc..
The MPHH group also recently signed an agreement with Southwestern University for a possible joint venture in mnodernizing the latter’s 100-bed training hospital in Cebu.
