In the judgment session on the 24th of February, CADE approved, with restrictions, a concentration act that provides for the transfer of assets from Plamed to Hapvida. The authorisation of the operation was conditioned to the signing of a Concentration Control Agreement.
Hapvida provides supplementary health services,
including medical assistance with its network of hospitals, clinics and
diagnostic medicine units, in addition to dental care provided through
an accredited network. Plamed, in turn, is an operator of individual or
family and collective medical and hospital health plans with operations
in the states of Sergipe, Bahia and Alagoas.
The deal corresponds to
the transfer to Hapvida of the portfolio of health service coverage
contracts signed by Plamed with beneficiaries of medical and hospital
plans. Besides, the operation also provides for the acquisition of the
property and equipment of Clínica São Camilo, owned by Plamed, located
in Aracajú (SE).
According to the adviser-reporter of the case, Luis Braido, the operation has no potential to cause damage to the competitive environment in the market for collective medical and hospital health plans by adhesion. Likewise, no competitive problems related to the market for medical and hospital services have been identified since Clínica São Camilo's purchase.
However, Braido stressed in his vote that the business generates concentration in the markets for individual or family medical and hospital and corporate collective health plans in Sergipe. In this sense, it was demonstrated in the competitive analysis that both the possibility of new entrants and the remaining competition after approval of the act - in these segments are not sufficient to mitigate Hapvida's ability to exercise market power in the state.
To preserve the competitive conditions, Hapvida and Plamed assumed a series of structural and behavioural commitments, established in a Concentration Control Agreement signed with CADE.
Among the obligations provided for is the sale of portfolios of beneficiaries of individual or family and collective medical and hospital health plans in Aracajú, within limits set in the agreement. The deal must be notified as a specific merger, subject to CADE's approval.
Through the agreement, Hapvida also undertakes to maintain, for a period of two years, the prices of its current list for individual or family medical and hospital health plans in Aracajú.
The
company should also offer beneficiaries from Plamed's plans, for a
period of two years, the possibility of portability to Hapvida's
corresponding individual or family health plans, accounting for the
grace period already elapsed under its old contracts.
Among other
measures, the companies also undertake to inform Cade, for a period of
three years, of any operations involving their economic group that
characterise an act of concentration in any markets for medical and
hospital health plans in Sergipe, even if such acquisitions do not meet
the mandatory notification parameters.
An independent third party will monitor compliance with obligations.
