Zobel-led Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. (AC Health) is targeting to grow its outpatient clinic network by up to five branches annually and open more drugstore branches, while looking to acquire at least one hospital this year.

“The target is to expand by three to five clinics per year in major areas where we feel that it’s important for us to be in,” AC Health Chief Strategy and Investments Officer Rafael Jaime Recio said in an interview.

He added, “We have two more [openings] this year. And then I think next year we have a few more in the pipeline.”

Recio noted that most of the clinics they are opening are in malls but “more and more we’re also looking at other formats. It’s just opportunistic where we find the best location. It just so happens that the malls sometimes provide us the best location with the most foot traffic that’s most accessible.”

For the expansion of its hospital business through Healthway Medical Network Inc., he said the company has a few target acquisitions in the pipeline and “hopefully, we’re able to announce something within the year.”

The company is focusing more on acquisitions to scale up its nationwide footprint while continuing to level up its capabilities at Healthway Cancer Care Hospital.

“Everything else for the foreseeable future will be through acquisition,” Recio said, adding, “We’re being very deliberate also in terms of being very selective in terms of the hospitals that we target also.”

AC Health’s acquisition criteria for hospitals are that they must be Level 2 facilities with at least 100 beds and must be located in very good, densely populated urban towns or cities. They must also have a strong base of affiliated doctors who will remain after a change in hospital management.

“For us, it’s important that there are good doctors there since, honestly, doctors are the heartbeat of a hospital. You’re only as good as the doctor base that you have there,” he explained.

Meanwhile, on the pharmaceuticals side, Recio said their goal now is to expand organically by growing the St. Joseph Drug store brand and bringing it to Metro Manila. The drugstore started in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, and has grown to over 130 branches in northern Luzon.

“We also want to grow our generic footprint [through Generika Pharmacy] also. And then, on the importation side, we want to grow that organically by bringing in more products,” he said.

AC Health is targeting to grow its footprint to 1,150 pharmacies, 300 clinics, and 10 hospitals by next year. It currently has about 900 pharmacies, 250 clinics, and seven hospitals.

“I think we’re making good progress and it looks like we’re on track. It has been an encouraging 2026 so far, despite all the challenges we’ve seen lately,” Recio said.