HONG KONG, December 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two China and Portugalas well as the tenth year of Fosun’s deep involvement in the Portuguese market. As a global, innovation-driven consumer group rooted in China, Fosun has grown into China’s largest private enterprise with the largest investment in Portugal since entering the market in 2014. Its local ecosystem is primarily focused on insurance, banking and healthcare, including Fidelidade (Portugal the largest insurance company), Luz Saúde (one of the largest healthcare groups) and Millennium BCP (Portugal the largest privately owned listed bank).
Fosun sticks to its strategy of “rooted in Chinaglobally managed.” Over the past decade, it has continuously expanded its investment footprint in Portugaldeepened its operations in the industry and actively fulfilled its long-term obligations to the country. Fosun not only supported the local operations of its three Portuguese companies, but also facilitated their rapid growth in international markets, especially in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries, making it a model of Sino-Portuguese economic cooperation.
The presence of investment in Portugal
In 2013, under the influence Eurozone financial crisis, Portugal faced serious financial shortfalls, with the unemployment rate reaching 17%. In order to reduce the public debt, the Portuguese government implemented a series of privatization measures. Fosunclosely monitoring overseas investment opportunities, they identified a suitable opportunity during this period.
IN May 2014, Fosun acquired Portugal leading insurance company, Fidelidade, for approximately €1 billion, marking the start of its investment in Portugal. Later in October, with Fosunova support, Fidelidade acquired a 96% stake in the operations of EspÃrito Santo Saúde Hospital (later renamed Luz Saúde) for €460 million.
After completing the investment in Portugal insurance and healthcare sector, Fosun gained market recognition for its effective performance capabilities. Driven by the positive outlook for the Portuguese market and confidence in its global operational capabilities, Fosun acquired a 16.7% stake in Millennium BCP for EUR 175 million November 2016later increasing its share to approximately 20%, further consolidating its influence in the Portugal.
Industry jobs + ecosystem synergies that drive growth
Fosun holds an 85% stake in Fidelidade, a leading player in Portugal insurance market, with a market share of around 30%. Years of industrial investment and business are strengthened Fosunova advantages in “insurance + investments”. Using your resources, Fosun helped Fidelidade diversify its asset allocation, expanding its scope into the real estate, tourism, healthcare and consumer sectors in Portugal and Europe. This collaboration fostered mutual growth between Fidelidade and Fosun. Of June 30, 2024Fidelidade’s gross written premium reached 2.808 billion euros, an increase of 5.9% compared to the previous year, with net income of 104 million euros, an increase of 5.3% compared to the previous year.
Luz Saúde manages 29 medical facilities, covering 75% Portugal population, and is the only professional medical institution in Portugal offer guidance services in Chinese. Fosun has supported Luz Saúde in the expansion of its hospitals, creating almost 1,000 jobs. Additionally, Fosun enabled a partnership between UnionPay International and Millennium BCP, resulting in a successful release European first UnionPay cards of a local financial institution, providing convenient services for visiting international clients Portugal.
With support FosunFidelidade, Luz Saúde and Millennium BCP have established a synergistic “insurance + healthcare + banking” ecosystem, creating significant cross-sector synergies. For example, local families who purchase Fidelidade insurance can access superior medical services through Luz Saúda and financial products through Millennium BCP. This ecosystem strategy allowed the three companies to reinforce each other, increasing profit margins.
Jorge M. Correiapresident of Fidelidade, said: “We have noticed that the successful companies of the future will have strong ecosystems. We have built a strong synergy between insurance, health care and asset management. This is the result Fosun introducing our ecosystem approach, helping us access more resources and achieve growth.”
Actively Eexpansion ONverses MArketi from Portugal
The success of Fidelidade in Portugal has shown that Fosun replicability and growth potential of your business model. Guo Guangchangpresident Fosun Internationalhe stated: “Portugal boasts an open market, a favorable investment environment and a government that is constantly improving, making it one of the most important countries for Fosunova global development beyond China. There is also huge scope for future growth. Fosun will further position Portugal as a key gateway for investment in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries, strengthening its ties to more global markets and regions.”
At the beginning of 2019, Fidelidade acquired a 51% stake in La Positiva, the leading insurance company in Peruexpanding its operations to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguayand Nicaragua. It has thus significantly expanded its market presence in Latin America. Fidelidade is currently in first place in terms of market share in Bolivia and the third in Peru.
IN AfricaFidelidade has actively expanded into Portuguese-speaking markets, especially in Mozambique and Angola. This international expansion strategy has created additional growth opportunities for Fidelidade, while at the same time confirming it Fosunova a successful globalization strategy.
As of the first half of 2024, Fidelidade’s operations span 13 countries Europe, Africaand Latin Americaachieving growth on the domestic and international market. The share of international business continued to increase, with total gross written premiums from international markets reaching EUR 885 million, accounting for over 30% of the total, a significant increase from 6% in 2017. International business also contributed approximately EUR 51 million euros in net profit, which represents more than 40% of the total profit.
IN September 2024Fitch Ratings upgraded Fidelidade’s Underwriter Financial Strength Rating (IFS) from “A” to “A+” and its Long-Term Issuer Outstanding Rating (IDR) from “A-” to “A”, with a stable outlook. This represents the highest rating Fitch has assigned to a single financial institution in Portugal.
Speed Digital Ttransformation
Moreover, Fosun has improved operational efficiency and competitiveness through digital transformation, accelerating the digital progress of its Portuguese businesses. For example, Fidelidade launched the MyFidelidade app, offering users convenient online insurance management services, including reviewing policies, submitting claims, updating information and accessing resources. Of June 30, 2024the application had more than 1.6 million registered users, which accounted for more than 15% of users Portugal of the total population, with the sale of digital channels increasing by 16% compared to the previous year.
Luz Saúde provides the MyLuz digital platform for patients, allowing them access to medical records, billing, payments and appointments for in-person and virtual consultations. In 2023, almost 2 million telemedicine consultations were performed, with severe cases accounting for 41% of the total.
Millennium BCP offers powerful online and mobile banking services, enabling users to manage accounts, perform transactions and access financial products at any time. In 2023, BCP achieved a record consolidated net profit of EUR 856 million, which is more than four times higher than the previous year, highlighting the positive effect of digitalization on financial results.
Innovation and responsibility go hand in hand
Fosun always adheres to the original aspiration of “Self-Improvement, Teamwork, Performance and Contribution to Society”, which aligns seamlessly with Fidelidade’s focus on individual and family well-being and its commitment to “Work for Good”.
At the beginning of 2016, under the principle of “Innovation and development focused on people”, Fosun Foundationin collaboration with Fidelidade and Luz Saúde, launched a sustainable innovation project “Protecting Global Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition“. The name “Protechting” is derived from the words “Protection” and “Technology”, with the aim of supporting young people in the “Internet+” era in realizing their entrepreneurial dreams. The initiative encourages young people to deeply integrate the Internet with health, medical care, insurance and ESG- and, inspiring new ideas and harnessing innovation to improve the quality of life.
In 2017, the Protecting Global Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub was established in Macaufurther promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship among young people in Hong Kong and Macau. Since 2018, the Protechting competition has developed over 40 pilot projects and achieved 5 commercial collaborations. To date, the Protechting competition has been held seven times, constantly focusing on young innovators with an entrepreneurial spirit. It connects with excellent companies in between China and abroad, providing young entrepreneurs with a platform for learning and exchanging ideas. Management, marketing, investment and technology experts are invited to offer expert guidance to participants.
In May of this year, the three best teams from Protechting 6.0 were invited to China for visits, exchanges and presentations, showing creativity and energy European young innovators while looking for more opportunities for business cooperation China. Protechting has had a significant impact on fostering innovation in Fosunat the same time promoting intercultural exchange in various fields, especially in innovation.
In addition, annual Fidelidade community The prize awards 750,000 euros each year to support the social inclusion of people with disabilities, promote healthy living and care for the elderly. His influence on the Portuguese community continues to grow.
Guo Guangchangpresident Fosun Internationalhe said: “Fosunova the vision of globalization is not limited to ‘two-way exchange’ between the world and China. It also extends to the endogenous growth of ecosystem businesses at home and abroad, encouraging them to actively expand beyond their local markets within their territories.”
“Fosunova the ‘global organization + local operations’ model has developed into a unique and valuable capability. Portugal serves as our gateway to investing in Europe and as a key entry point for other Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries. Fidelidade is an example of success Fosunova globalization strategy.”
Looking back on a decade of investing in Portugal, Fosun has worked hand-in-hand with local companies, achieving sustainable growth while creating long-term value for the local market. Looking ahead, Fosun aims to focus on developing businesses where it has already established strengths, with innovation and globalization as its core drivers, to build sustainable, predictable and consistently profitable businesses.
