Macquarie Group is set to secure a minority stake in Luz Saude, a hospital operator based in Portugal, as reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Australia-based financial company beat off competition from CVC Capital Partners and KKR & Co to secure approximately 40% of Luz Saude from Fidelidade, a Portuguese insurer under the umbrella of China-based conglomerate Fosun International.

The transaction, which is expected to be finalised in the upcoming days, would assign Luz Saude an enterprise value exceeding €1bn ($1.1bn).

This development is not yet formalised, as a representative for Fidelidade stated that no formal agreement has been signed with any party and declined to comment further on the matter.

This acquisition is the latest in a series of hospital sector deals for Macquarie, which has a diverse portfolio including energy, gas trading, private markets, and infrastructure investments.

Notably, one of Macquarie’s units acquired a private healthcare facility in Dublin in 2024, and it has provided funding for the upgrade and expansion of three Midlands-based hospitals in the UK.

In 2021, a Macquarie Infrastructure Partners subsidiary took a 50% stake in a $1.8bn portfolio of eight Massachusetts hospitals in the US.

The sale of the stake in Luz Saude occurs during a surge of interest from private equity entities in the Portuguese healthcare sector.

Spain's MCH Private Equity and French group Vivalto Sante have both recently invested in Portuguese hospital operators.

Luz Saude, which was removed from the Euronext Lisbon exchange in 2018 following Fosun's majority share acquisition through Fidelidade, operates 30 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across Portugal.

Fosun currently has an 85% stake in Fidelidade, with the remaining 15% owned by the Portuguese state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos.