The colossal sale of Unimed’s rival in a hurry

Unimed’s rival was sold

Health plans are an option for those who want to purchase health services, and can have a better forecast of their medical care expenses. In this article, for example, we will talk about the colossal sale of a Unimed rival that ended up taking all customers by surprise.

For those who don’t know, we are talking about the North American group UnitedHealth Group, which also owns the operator Amil and Americas Serviços Médicos, one of Unimed’s biggest rivals in Brazil. According to what was published by the Valor Econômico portal, the sales process must be carried out via different formats, such as a consortium with several interested parties.

At the time, when the article was released, BofA* (acronym for Bank of America Merrill Lynch) indicated that Amil was valued at R$10 billion to R$15 billion, without considering the individual health plan portfolio. This deal, it is worth mentioning, has already been closed and the negotiation came to light in December of last year.

According to CNN Brasil, businessman José Seripieri Filho, Junior, who founded Qualicorp and Qsaúde, bought Amil for R$11 billion, according to people who follow the transaction. The figure comprises a value of R$2 billion for the controlling interest in Amil and the equivalent of R$9 billion in liabilities, according to a source familiar with the operation.

With the transaction, Júnior will alone own all of Amil. According to interlocutors, to close the deal, the entrepreneur’s willingness to take over the company behind closed doors was decisive, absorbing past and future liabilities associated with the operator.

It is worth remembering that Amil, Unimed’s rival, is the fourth largest operator in the country, behind NotreDame Intermédica, Hapvida and Bradesco Saúde, with a 6% market share, according to ANS. It has around 5.4 million health and dental plan beneficiaries, 32 hospitals and 28 medical clinics.

How to choose the best health plan?

According to information from the Serasa portal, one of the first steps is to take into account some issues that go beyond price. It is also necessary to evaluate the plan that best fits the user’s profile and their current needs, which involves, for example:

● type of plan: whether individual, corporate or collective (through membership from a professional entity);
● possibility of co-participation;
● type of coverage offered: whether outpatient or hospital, with or without obstetrics;
● scope: whether national or regional;
● grace periods;
● adjustment by age;
● breadth of the accredited network.