Benpres sells 18% stake in Medical City for P600M

Benpres Holdings Corp. said yesterday it has sold its 18- percent stake in Professional Services Inc., the owner and operator of The Medical City hospital in Ortigas, to regional private equity fund Lombard Asia III for P600 million.

The sale is part of the company’s overall strategy to reduce debt which stood at around $367 million as of end-2007.

Lombard Asia III is the third Asia-focused private equity fund managed by Lombard Investments Inc., a leading international private equity investment manager.

Organized in 1985, Lombard Investments has offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong and San Francisco and has made more than 75 controlling and significant minority investments in Asia and North America. 

The firm’s investors include some of the world’s largest and most respected financial institutions, major pension funds and corporations as well as family investment offices in Asia, Europe and North America.

“Benpres continues to pursue discussions with various creditors with a view of retiring debts or entering into restructured financing agreements,” Benpres president Angel Ong said.

The company was organized in 1993 by the Lopez family to serve as the holding company for investments in broadcasting and entertainment, cable television, telecommunications, power generation and distribution, infrastructure, real estate development and health care delivery. 

Benpres, the listed flagship holding firm of the Lopez family, reported a 24.8-percent growth in net income last year to P5.36 billion from only P4.3  billion, boosted by huge foreign exchange gains and higher revenues.  Consolidated revenues grew 26 percent to P19.89 billion. 

The company booked foreign exchange gains of P3.24 billion or 3.5 times the P920 million recorded a year earlier. 

Equity in net earnings of associates, however, declined 39.2 percent to P2.84 billion from P4.67 billion which included non-recurring income received by First Philippine Holdings Corp. from the initial public offering of First Gen Corp.

Benpres purchased some debt prior to interest due date in the second half of 2007 resulting in lower interest payments for the period. 

Gain on sale of available-for-sale investments slid 33.6 percent to

P79 million as fewer shares of Digital Telecommunications it owned were sold during the year.