Money-Go-Round by Victor C. Agustin
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Singapore now controls
Makati Med, 14 hospitals
after Metro Pacific divests
The Metro Pacific Group has confirmed that Makati Medical Center and 14 other associated hospitals around the country are now controlled by a Singapore government consortium, following the release last month of the group's first-half financial results.
Metro Pacific's Hong Kong-based parent, First Pacific Co., disclosed the "loss of control" in the aftermath of the P30.1-billion transaction late last year, which resulted in Metro Pacific's reducing its stake from 60.1% stake to only 20% of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc.
In addition to the Makati Med, the Metro Pacific Group also held majority ownership in Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, and Manila Doctors Hospital, as well as five primary care clinics, three cancer centers, and two healthcare colleges.
First Pacific was silent as to the actual shareholdings structure of the Singapore group to which it had ceded control of its Philippine hospital empire.
But earlier news reports identified the foreign buyers as the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, and possibly Temasek (another Singapore government holding company), with the American investment giant KKR initiating the deal in a complicated bonds-share swap transaction.
Once the bonds are converted and GIC’s existing 14% stake is accounted for, the consortium will own the equivalent of 80% of the company’s shares, Metro Pacific’s chief financial officer David Nicol told a press briefing in October.
But Metro Pacific will retain control of the business by virtue of voting rights attached to the preferred shares it owns, Reuters quoted Nicol as saying.
