Metro Pacific plans to hike stake in hospital unit

Conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is looking to secure another 30 percent stake in the largest private hospital group in the country as part of the stake sale being undertaken by its majority shareholders, according to a report by Philippine Star.

KKR & Co. and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are selling their majority stake in Metro Pacific Health Corp. (MPH), which has 27 hospitals in its portfolio.

KKR and GIC hold an 80 percent stake in MPH, while MPIC owns the remaining 20 percent.

“We’re participating in the purchase of the total of 80 percent. So we’ll probably pick 30 percent,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said that he is set to meet with the KKR group next week.

“I’ve gotten some rumors about values, but I don’t know. So next week (we’ll meet) and then if we agree, the price and the process, because I don’t know who the bidders are. We’re picking up some noises, some names,” he said.

Pangilinan is hoping that the deal will be finalized by the middle of the year.

KKR and GIC made their investment in MPH in 2019 through a series of transactions in common shares and mandatorily exchangeable bonds issued by MPIC.

MPH, under the leadership of Pangilinan as its chairman, has continuously sought to enhance health care accessibility and excellence in the country.

From its first investment in Makati Medical Center in 2007, MPH has since grown to be the largest private hospital group in the Philippines.

MPH’s hospital network features approximately 4,400 beds, 11,000 doctors and 16,000 health care staff to take care of 4.2 million patients a year.

The company’s most recent acquisition was General Trias Doctors Medical Center Inc. in Cavite, its 27th hospital.