International Finance Corporation, the private sector division of the World Bank Group, is investing $50 million to acquire a minority stake in One Vision, Brazil’s largest ophthalmology firm.
“It’s a market that’s really in need of equity,” Carmen Valéria de Paula, IFC’s Latin America manager for health, education, tourism and services, told LatinFinance.
“It’s particularly relevant at the moment for Brazil, where IFC can come in with a patient capital at a time where you don’t see IPOs, you see the equity market being very restricted,” she said. “So we play this counter-cyclical role by bringing in capital that’s going to help the company to grow its business.”
This reflects IFC’s strategy to, on the one hand, increase its investment in equity, and on the other, support investment in health services and in companies that complement the public healthcare system, such as One Vision, which is controlled by the private equity arm of local financial firm services XP.
“IFC aims to grow its equity investment portfolio by some 20% globally in the coming years, De Paula said. “So, our investment in One Vision is also part of our objective to increase our equity investments in companies.”
EYEING CONSOLIDATION
Brazil’s ophthalmology market is very fragmented and One Vision, which was launched in 2020, expects to pursue an aggressive M&A campaign to extend its network. It is currently present in 66 hospitals and eye clinics in 13 states of the country, as well as in the federal district of Brasília.
“If you combine number one and number two of the market, they probably have probably less than 12%,” De Paula said. “So there is a still a huge room for consolidation.”