Developer Carlo Stivala is eyeing the abandoned St Philip’s Hospital and is willing to clear the hospital’s debts to get the deal done, a court has been told.
Hospital owner Frank Portelli highlighted Stivala’s offer to the court in a bid to delay the hospital’s forced sale through a public call for offers.
Stivala is a major property developer who split from the family business, Stivala Group Finance, some years ago to branch out on his own.
St Philip’s Hospital has been empty and abandoned for more than a decade, and Portelli’s company, Golden Shepherd Group Ltd, is in the process of being liquidated. The company owes HSBC around €12 million in outstanding debts and its last set of filed audited accounts date back to 2010.
As part of the liquidation process, the Office of the Official Receiver was instructed in July to prepare a public call for offers to sell the hospital building, with money recouped to be used to pay off Portelli’s creditors.
On Monday, Portelli secured an additional few months to get the Stivala deal concluded before the hospital goes to a public call for offers.
In a court decree issued on Monday, Judge Ian Spiteri Bailey instructed the Official Receiver to make contact with Stivala and request a detailed business plan, including details of how creditors would be repaid.
It suspended the public call for tenders until March 2026.
The decision comes despite HSBC’s protests. The bank, which is on its way out of Malta, argued that although Stivala’s offer “could be interesting”, the Office of the Official Receiver was obliged to get the best possible offer for the site.
Therefore, there should be a public offer and, if Stivala is interested, he could submit a bid through that process, HSBC argued.
The court noted that Portelli has “not always been cooperative” and that it was not the first time he has claimed to have a buyer for the hospital. However, his claim about Stivala’s interest seemed to be “a bit more substantive” than his other, previous claims, it said.
Given that Stivala is reportedly willing to make creditors whole, the court said it would grant time to give the reported deal a chance to be finalised.
Stivala declined to comment when contacted.
