MVP sets sights on wind energy

MANILA, Philippines - Business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, in a rare one-hour Twitter interaction with the public Tuesday night, has outlined acquisition and expansion opportunities of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

He said the infrastructure conglomerate is looking at wind power projects and a children’s medical center while announcing the company’s aversion to casino business.

Specifically, MPIC plans to acquire Dr. Fe Del Mundo Medical Center in Quezon City as the conglomerate needs “a dedicated children’s hospital,” Pangilinan said.

MPIC’s healthcare group is the largest hospital chain in the country with eight medical facilities and a total capacity of 2,137 beds.

The hospital group aims to hit P1.2 billion in earnings and as much as P17 billion in revenues by 2015. It also targets reaching a bed capacity of 3,000 by acquiring one or two hospitals per year.

On the renewable energy sector, Pangilinan said the group is interested in wind power generation.

However, the renewable energy sector will get traction in the Philippines “only if we raise the limits on renewables,” Pangi-linan said, pointing out that China has 70,000 megawatts (MW) of wind farms as opposed to the Philippines’ cap at 200 MW.

MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said the company can buy into projects in the pipeline as the feed-in tariff (FIT) is limited to 200 MW.

The FIT scheme guarantees investments of renewable energy firms through fixed rates that would be shouldered by consumers over 20 years.

Pangilinan, who described his investment style as more of Warren Buffett than that of Donald Trump, also said Cebu needs a metro rail transit. His group owns a majority stake in MRT Corp., the operating firm behind the Metro Rail Transit (MRT).

However, MPIC is not diversifying into businesses like education and gaming.

 â€œWe leave the business of education to better educators like Jesuits, Benedictines, Lasalle Brothers and Dominicans,” Pangilinan stressed.

“As a matter simply of policy, we don’t invest in gambling,” Pangilinan said when asked about the gaming sector.

MPIC is into tollroads, power distribution, water utility and hospitals.

“We met our targets...slightly above,” Lim said when asked about the 2013 performance of MPIC. MPIC pegged its profit guidance to P7 billion for last year.

Growth drivers were Manila Electric Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc., he said.