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Intermedica tight lipped about plans to sell, IPO – or both

Intermedica, the private Brazilian payor-provider headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is refusing to comment on its prospective stock market flotation or sale - telling Healthcare Nova that, at this stage, it is “not allowed to comment on anything to do with IPOs or strategy”. But according to one sources in Brazil, Intermedica may go for a mix of both IPO and sale.

FREE BLOG The Americans are coming… and they have algorithms

Moves are afoot in the US to confirm the legal status of wellness programmes that ask employees to disclose medical information as voluntary. That means employers are entitled to ask employees that refuse to participate in programmes, which can involve disclosing disabilities, family medical history and perhaps even genetic information, to contribute up to 30% more than their discounted colleagues, towards their insurance cover.

Zambia is open for business

The southern African country of Zambia is looking to the private sector to boost its healthcare system and help it move towards universal health coverage. In an interview in London, Dr Kennedy Malama, director at the Ministry of Health, named five key areas it’s looking for help and what Zambia has to offer.

Interview: Dr Nelson Gitonga, CEO of Insight Health Advisors

With experience of supporting the private sector, NGOs, development partners and the Kenyan Government, Dr Nelson Gitonga is well versed in the Kenyan health system. Right now, his services are likely to be in high demand. The country’s healthcare market is buzzing with foreign entrants and local players looking to cash in on a period of rapid growth. In this interview, Gitonga puts recent developments in their historical context and points to some areas of common oversight.

MedLife buys Bucharest clinic operator Anima

Romanian healthcare services provider MedLife is buying Bucharest operator Anima, a group of six clinics providing outpatient services to public, private and corporate patients. We speak to Anima’s CEO Cristian Sas.

Digital insurers to dominate Asia

The insurance group Aviva’s recent sale of part of its Hong Kong business to internet giant Tencent proved digital is the destination for China’s insurers. But it’s in health insurance that “digitalisation” will show its true worth predicts Thalia Georgiou, founder of the consultancy Asia Care Group.

Interview: Aarne Aktan, CEO, Pihlajalinna

The health and social care group, Pihlajalinna, is the biggest (and arguably hardest to pronounce) name in Finnish outsourcing. It opened its first joint venture with Jämsä in 2010 and now receives 55% of its sales through this model. But the Finnish Sote reform, which will totally reshape the market, is fast approaching. Still, Aktan claims that Pihlajalinna, a weak consumer brand, will adapt to freedom of choice and the end of outsourcing as he knows it.

Delhi High Court blocks Fortis sale to TPG

The High Court of Delhi has accepted an application by the Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo to block the sale of the Indian hospital group Fortis Healthcare to the private equity house TPG today. The Singh brothers, who own 83% of the group, were reportedly considering an INR 3,000 crore (US$451m) bid for a 26% stake in the group with a “control premium”.

UK health insurance cover starts to grow at last

The UK health insurance sector, which by the end of 2015 had lost 8% of its subscribers compared to the end of 2008, appears to be on the rebound. This is the claim from LaingBuisson, a healthcare market intelligence provider which has just published a report on the subject entitled Health Cover.

Medicover denies Brasov hospital rumours

Medicover says it is not in negotiations to convert a shopping centre in the central Romanian city of Brasov into a private hospital - for now. But the group is keen to further expand in the country ahead of a potential IPO this year.

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