With so many things happening in the world of investments , Vivo couldn't be left out. Today, Saturday, March 4, 2023, I woke up to the news that Vivo had bought the company Vale Saúde Semper to boost digital revenue. I had access to this news in a newspaper written by Pedro Arabex and I also did some checking on the internet, thus discovering that Vivo had actually just bought Vale Saúde Semper.
Who is Vale Saúde Semper?
Vale Saúde was founded by Seu Eduardo Brigagão , in 2011. Brigagão worked in a number of top companies before founding Vale Saúde, such as Lemon Bank and Citibank . This gentleman, over 70 years old, discovered a niche market focused on the public that does not want to depend on the SUS and who cannot afford to pay for a complete health plan. Apparently, a range of the population that includes more than 100 million Brazilians.
Browsing the website of the acquired company, I discovered that it has very economical monthly subscription plans, which start at R$39.90 and go up to R$59.90. The plans give access to telemedicine, which are appointments in digital format with qualified doctors, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Which is quite interesting, even more so when we consider that we can have access to a quality private network in some cities in Brazil.
On its website, the company calls itself a means of payment company in the healthcare segment, which connects customers to a complete service network.
"We are not health plan administrators; we are an alternative between the public network and health plans".
Why would Vivo be interested in buying a healthcare company?
Vale Saúde is a startup that offers subscriptions with discounts on consultations and exams and that may boost the telecom operator's digital ecosystem .
Did Vivo invest what it could not have invested in this acquisition?
Looking strictly at the financial side, we see that this transaction is being estimated at R$60 million. In order to verify whether this transaction puts the company's financial health at risk, I went to Vivo 's website and looked at the most recent financial statements . When we check these documents, we see that the free cash flow after leasing payment, in the case of Vivo , is 816 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 alone, and in the full year of 2022 we have a free cash flow of 7 billion. So, everything indicates that the company is able to afford the 60 million and that this acquisition is not a financial problem for Vivo.
Note: I do some other tests, in terms of financial quality , on the Youtube video.
How will Vivo's synergy gain be?
It was not clear to me how a telecom company would approach healthcare customers to make sales. However, this acquisition may bring synergy with Vivo's customers , at least that's what the company's CEO : Christian Gebara believes.
According to Gebara, Vivo will have a very broad market to be explored, especially when we consider the current customer base, which is around 60 million users.