Ribera Salud sees more Portugal investment after sale

Ribera Salud expects the sale of its parent company Vivalto Santé to lead to fresh investment and potentially a larger presence in Portugal, José Bento e Silva, the group’s chief executive in Portugal, told ECO in an interview. Ribera manages Cascais Hospital under a public-private partnership and is linked to Lusíadas Saúde through the same parent group.

Bento e Silva said French fund Vivalto Partners is selling its stake in Vivalto Santé, owner of both Lusíadas Saúde and Ribera Salud, but argued that any shareholder change should support expansion rather than retrenchment. “Our expectation is that, in the future, there will be a lot of investment by the group”, he said, adding that this could mean “a greater presence in Portugal” as well as further growth in Spain and France.

On Ribera’s operations in Portugal, he said much of a roughly €30 million investment plan for 2023 to 2030 at Cascais Hospital has already been carried out, although the original figure was based on 2018 prices and has been affected by inflation. He said the group expects to exceed that amount over time and remains open to further spending on equipment, operating theatres, sterilisation and technology when it improves patient care.

He also said Cascais Hospital, which currently has 277 beds in operation, is expected to expand to 401 beds and that the group has introduced home hospitalisation under the contract. According to Bento e Silva, the unit now has 45 home hospitalisation beds, which he said is the highest number in Portugal.

Originally published at Eco.pt