Metro Pacific, hospital sign management deal

Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. on Tuesday said it is adding another hospital to its group by signing a 20-year management contract with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Santa Mesa, Manila. Through wholly-owned subsidiary East Manila Hospital Managers Corp., Metro Pacific pledged to spend P350 million on facilities and equipment of the 230-bed hospital within five years, the conglomerate said in a statement. "Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is the fifth hospital in Metro Pacific's growing healthcare portfolio of now approximately 1,600 beds, and represents another step forward in our vision to establish a nationwide chain of quality hospitals in the Philippines," Augie Palisoc Jr., Metro Pacific executive director and head of the hospital group, said in the statement. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has been managed since 1958 by non-stock, non-profit Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Inc. via the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit congregation. According to the statement, the parties are now working on transferring the operations and management of the hospital to East Manila by Nov. 1. Metro Pacific holds premier hospital brands in the country including the Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, and Bacolod's Riverside Medical Center. The hospital group, the smallest unit of Metro Pacific, is now firming up the groundwork to gain P10 billion in revenues and P1 billion in net income in five years. The hospital group accounted for P67 million of Metro Pacific’s group earnings in the first half. Year-on-year, Metro Pacific’s core net income rose by 169 percent to P1.93 billion on revenues that rose by 18 percent to P8.86 billion in the first half. Metro Pacific, the local flagship of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., expects a core profit of P3.3 billion this year, up by a tenth from last year. — JE/VS, GMANews.TV