Behind the scenes of the proposed purchase of Hospital Santa Catarina by Unimed Blumenau

Unimed Blumenau’s interest in buy Santa Catarina Hospital (HSC) shook the local medical community at lights out last week. The creation of a potential agreement, confirmed by the parties in an official joint statement, drew attention due to the speed with which conversations evolved behind the scenes in recent weeks. But for those who have been observing the most recent movements, both by the cooperative and the health institution, the news does not exactly come as a surprise.

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A few months ago, Unimed was engaged in “Bavaria Project”. It was a partnership designed with the Associação Congregação Santa Catarina (ACSC), sponsor of Hospital Santa Isabel, which aimed to implement a mega health complex in Blumenau from the unfinished hospital structure of the cooperative in the Vila Nova neighborhood. After almost two years of conversations, the deal came up against critical points in the contract, including issues of financial viability, and ended up not going ahead.

Even though it was not successful, the proposal already signaled Unimed’s plan to invest in its own hospital structure, as part of a strategy to increase financial profitability. Even though the value of acquiring the HSC is high – values discussed are not yet public – and managing a hospital has its expenses, the internal understanding is that synergy with the cooperative’s business, which sells health plans, could help to dilute operational and administrative costs in the long term.

At the other end, the Hospital Santa Catarina “was about to play”. In 2021, the Lutheran Parish Union, which maintains the hospital, approved the sale of the century-old institution. The column found that large national health networks, like Dasa and D’or, among others, expressed interest in the unit. But the proposals were not satisfied. The Lutherans did not give up on some demandsincluding maintaining philanthropies and partnerships with service providers such as Unimed Blumenau itself.

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With one side willing to have a new hospital and the other available to listen to offers, with a more structured sales project, conversations about a partnership arose naturally. Sources familiar with the case heard by the column believe it is a “win-win” model. On the one hand, Unimed Blumenau receives a ready-made structure, already running, and recognized for its quality service. On the other hand, the HSC leads to a more profitable destination.

Today, more than 80% of the services provided monthly by HSC are to beneficiaries of the cooperative. If this contingent migrated to another unit – which would happen if the “Bavaria Project” had left the drawing board –, the blow to finances would be significant. If the willingness to sell remained, this would cause a drop in market value for the hospital.

Remember major companies in Blumenau that were sold

Artex was incorporated in the 2000s by Coteminas (Photo: Reproduction)

Mega Transformadores was purchased in 2000 by the Swedish-Swiss multinational ABB (Photo: Reproduction)

Eisenbahn was purchased in 2008 by the Schincariol Group. Afterwards, it was negotiated with the Japanese company Kirin until it was acquired by Heineken (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2008, French energy equipment supplier Areva purchased Waltec, which would later become part of Schneider Electric (Photo: Patrick Rodrigues, BD)

In 2010, Wheb Sistemas, a manufacturer of health management software, was purchased by the multinational Philips (Photo: Patrick Rodrigues, BD)

Dudalina was sold in 2013 to American funds and a year later it was bought by Restoque, today Veste SA (Photo: Patrick Rodrigues, NSC Total, BD)

Since September 2016, Bermo, a manufacturer of valves and industrial equipment, has been part of the ARI Armaturen Group, from Germany (Photo: Disclosure)

Baumgarten was not sold, but in 2016 it announced a merger with two German companies that gave rise to All4Labels (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2017, CM Hospitalar, owner of Grupo Mafra (currently Viveo), announced the purchase of Cremer (Photo: Luís Carlos Kriewall Filho, Especial, BD)

Developer of logistics management software, HBSIS was purchased in 2019 by the brewery Ambev (Photo: Disclosure)

In March 2021, Viveo purchased Grupo FW, a manufacturer of wet wipes and owner of the Feel Clean brand (Photo: Patrick Rodrigues, NSC Total, BD)

In 2021, Cia. Hering accepted a purchase proposal from Grupo Soma (Photo: Patrick Rodrigues, NSC Total, BD)

In 2021, Hemmer was purchased by the multinational Kraft Heinz (Photo: Artur Moser, NSC Total, BD)

Unimestre, which developed educational management systems, was purchased in October 2021 by Plataforma A+ (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2021, fintech PagueVeloz accepted a purchase proposal made by Serasa (Photo: Pedro Machado, NSC Total, BD)

The digital marketing agency A7B was purchased in 2021 by Adtail, a company from Rio Grande do Sul in the same field (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2021, Laboratório Hemos was purchased by Grupo Sabin, one of the main diagnostic medicine companies in Brazil (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2021, the startup Velo was purchased by QuintoAndar, a housing platform (Photo: Reproduction)

In December 2021, the Sulfabril brand was sold at auction by the Santa Catarina textile company Lunelli (Photo: Lucas Amorelli, BD)

Movidesk, which offers technological customer service and support solutions, was purchased in December 2021 by the company Zenvia from Rio Grande do Sul (Photo: Disclosure)

In 2021, the manufacturer of labels, tags and fashion accessories Tecnoblu was purchased by Canadian CCL Industries (Photo: Disclosure)

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There is another important factor that converges for the agreement to be sealed: maintaining control of the hospital within Blumenau, something unlikely if the unit were purchased by an outside group. According to sources, this is a point that weighs heavily on the discussions. The final decision, however, depends on approval in assemblies of the two institutions, which are sovereign. The meetings should take place in May.

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Enlargement

According to the initial terms of the partnership that has been discussed, Unimed Blumenau, in addition to the cash purchase, would finance an expansion of Hospital Santa Catarina, which would gain more hospitalization beds and surgery rooms. This expansion is already considered in the financial projections of a possible acquisition. The construction of a new tower in front of the hospital, with support clinics and laboratories, is also planned, but would remain under the responsibility of the Lutheran Parish Union.

The work on the hospital that Unimed began building in Vila Nova would be completed in a second stage. One of the ideas is that the entire structure will be used for maternity and pediatric care.

What the parties say

The executive director of Unimed Blumenau, Vitor Hellmann, assesses that the proposal paves the way for the cooperative to gain scale to discuss sustainability and price, in addition to providing cost reduction with the synergy of operations.

— What we have always taken into consideration is the relevance of the quality of services provided by Hospital Santa Catarina, and we guarantee that at the very least we will maintain the current standard — he says.

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The president of HSC, Adelino Sasse, says that the institution was never put up for sale, despite surveying companies. He reveals that the hospital already had a partnership with Unimed Blumenau in the area of oncology, but that more recently he understood that “we could talk a little more” about the integration:

— The fact that Unimed is local pleased us too. It’s a business designed in Blumenau.

Maintaining the quality of care and Unimed’s clinical staff at the hospital were essential conditions for the conversations to evolve.