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Washington D.C., June 9, 2003
— The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, provided a $20 million loan to support expansion of HOSPITEN International, a Spanish company which owns and operates hospitals in Spain and the Caribbean. The funds will be used for construction of a new general acute-care hospital in Cancun, Mexico and a smaller medical center in Riviera Maya, further south along the Mexican coast, and for renovation and expansion of an existing hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
“This project will improve the delivery of healthcare in the fast-growing state of Quintana Roo and in the capital city of the Dominican Republic, as well as strengthen the infrastructure necessary to support the tourism sector, which is critically important to both economies,” said Guy Ellena, Director of IFC’s Health and Education department.
HOSPITEN manages over 1000 hospital beds in Spain and the Dominican Republic. HOSPITEN’s facilities are generally located in tourist areas and provide general hospital care to the local population and emergency medical assistance or chronic disease management for visitors.
IFC first supported HOSPITEN in 2000 by providing a $4 million loan for its own account and that of Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A. to support construction of HOSPITEN’s first hospital outside of Europe, in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Following this successful experience, IFC is further supporting HOSPITEN’s international expansion with a loan for IFC’s own account of up to $12 million, and a syndicated loan of up to $8 million subscribed by Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A. and Caja General de Ahorros de Canarias.
Bernard Pasquier, Director of IFC’s Latin America and Caribbean department, said: “This financing shows IFC’s commitment to a broad spectrum of private sector initiatives in Latin America. The HOSPITEN operation underscores the increasing importance of the social sector --health and education-- for IFC’s strategy in the region”.
Consistent with the company’s tradition in Europe, HOSPITEN’s new facilities will serve both tourists and local patients, (
www.hospiten.com
). The medical centers in Cancun and Riviera Maya have been designed for the specific emergency needs of a large turnover of visitors as well as for care of the fast-growing local population, which is expected to double by 2010. In Santo Domingo, HOSPITEN will bring an existing facility up to international standards by investing in state-of-the-art technology and training for staff and transferring its expertise in management and quality of care.
The mission of IFC (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956 through FY02, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY02 was $15.1 billion for its own account and $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
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