LONDON/LISBON, May 19 (Reuters) – Portuguese insurer Fidelidade is exploring a possible listing of its private healthcare subsidiary Luz Saude, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Fidelidade, which is majority-owned by China’s Fosun International (0656.HK), will nominate investment banks to arrange an initial public offering (IPO) after recently inviting pitches, three of the people said on condition of anonymity languages.
The insurance group hopes to achieve a value of more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion) for Luz Saude, which operates nearly 30 hospitals and clinics across Portugal, by offering a minority stake, one of the respondents said.
Luz Saude reported operating income of 599 million euros in 2022, up 10.6% year-on-year, driven by growth in private healthcare services. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 26.9% to EUR 82 million.
The deliberations are preliminary and a transaction may not materialize, the people warned. They come after Fidelidade acquired the remaining 49% of Luz Saude it didn’t already own from parent company Fosun in September.
Luz Saude referred the comment to Fidelidade, which declined to comment. Fosun did not respond to a request for comment.
An IPO would mean Luz Saude’s return to the stock market after the healthcare group ceased trading on Euronext Lisbon in 2018.
It could also revive the European IPO market after activity levels plummeted last year due to rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.
While business activity overall has slowed due to inflation and macroeconomic fears, healthcare remains one of the most active areas of the market, with $131 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions globally through the first four months of the year, according to Refinitiv Deals Intelligence.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
Reporting by Andres Gonzalez and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London and Sergio Goncalves in Lisbon; Edited by Elisa Martinuzzi and Louise Heavens
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro
Comments are closed.