With nothing to fear. This is how Grupo Hospitalar Particular do Algarve (HPA) envisages the opening of an in-depth investigation by the Competition Authority (AdC) regarding the purchase, in 2017, of Hospital São Gonçalo de Lagos (HSGL).
Last Wednesday, May 22, AdC announced that it would investigate this acquisition, which could result in “significant obstacles to effective competition in the market, in particular with regard to the provision of hospital healthcare by private units in the Algarve”, states the Competition Authority.
But, from the HPA Group, there is nothing to fear.
«During the entire first phase of the process, the HPA provided abundant information to AdC, showing the lack of impact on competition arising from the acquisition of HSGL, taking into account the dynamics of the healthcare sector in Portugal, marked by customers with bargaining power, by the technical decisions of health professionals (oriented towards the well-being of patients) and by the effective and potential competition of others players, of larger or smaller dimension, thus not allowing such competitive dynamics, any reduction in the quality of services or impact on prices”, he says, in a press release.
As for the purchase, Grupo Hospitalar Particular do Algarve states that it took place with the "primary objective" of "revitalizing a health unit that was on the verge of exiting the market, providing a quality alternative for patients in the western Algarve, which , otherwise, if this operation did not exist, they would be totally deprived of a valid private health alternative in that territory”.
Even so, he concludes, «HPA will continue to collaborate actively and proactively with the AdC, as it has done so far, having even voluntarily submitted the notification of this operation when it did not have public data indicating that the mandatory notification thresholds to the AdC, as provided for in the law, were filled in this case».
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