UPDATE 2-Philippines' Metro Pacific's hospital stake draws over a dozen potential buyers

* More than a dozen firms keen to submit bids in first round
* Hospital unit could be valued at up to $2.5 bln
* Metro Pacific selling 40% of hospital unit
* Dealmaking picks up in hospital sector

(Adds details, fund manager and executives' quotes)
By Neil Jerome Morales and Anshuman Daga
MANILA/SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Metro Pacific
Investments Corp MPI.PS has received interest from many
potential buyers for a minority stake in its hospital unit,
which could be valued at up to $2.5 billion in the largest
healthcare deal in the Philippines.
Appetite for dealmaking in the Asian healthcare sector has
picked up with investors betting on an industry boom, driven by
strong healthcare spending, especially in emerging markets.
More than a dozen foreign and Philippine firms have shown
interest in submitting first-round, non-binding bids for Metro
Pacific Hospital this month, David Nicol, CFO of its holding
company, told Reuters on Thursday.
Metro Pacific Investments plans to sell a 40% stake in the
hospital unit at a valuation of $2-$2.5 billion, its chairman
Manuel Pangilinan said. That would mark the biggest ever
healthcare deal in the country, Refinitiv data shows.
The holding company currently owns 85.6% of Metro Pacific
Hospital. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC GIC.UL owns the
rest of the unit, which operates 14 hospitals, many of which are
among the Philippines' largest and most modern.
"We want ... to remain the single largest shareholder.
There's much potential in hospitals," Pangilinan said.
Metro Pacific Investments, which has interests in power and
water utilities, toll roads and railways, is a unit of Hong
Kong's First Pacific Co Ltd 0142.HK that is owned by
Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim.
Sources familiar with the matter said potential bidders for
the Philippine firm included Southeast Asian hospital groups,
large Asian conglomerates, private equity and local firms.
"There's interest from all over the world including our
backyard," Nicol said on Thursday after Metro Pacific unveiled
results. Earlier this year, sources told Reuters that private-equity
firms and conglomerates were keen to snap up Columbia Pacific
Management's Asian hospital business, in a sale the U.S.
investment company expected to fetch about $2 billion.
But analysts say lofty valuations pose a challenge to sale
processes. Since Metro Pacific's hospital unit owns real estate, the
Philippine's 40% cap on foreign ownership will apply.
Robert Ramos, senior vice-president at Eastwest Bank in
Manila, said valuations of Metro Pacific Hospital were hefty but
could be justified by its dominant market share.
"As our population becomes richer and becomes capable of
paying for these higher value services, you also have more
customers," Ramos said.
The hospital group targets to operate a network of 5,000
beds in the next few years from the current 3,200 beds by
acquiring smaller hospitals.