HAPV3 Hapvida

Hapvida is a Brazilian supplemental healthcare company founded in 1979 in Fortaleza (state of Ceará), following the creation of Clínica Antônio Prudente by oncologist Candido Pinheiro Koren de Lima. Throughout the 1980s, the clinic was expanded until it became a hospital, consolidating the group’s care infrastructure. In 1993, Hapvida Assistência Médica was incorporated and began operating as a health plan provider, initially with the goal of generating revenue to support Hospital Antônio Prudente. In 1996, the shareholders decided to separate the health insurance and hospital businesses, but from 2000 onward concluded that the ideal model would be the integration of both fronts, repositioning the health insurer as the main revenue generator and the hospitals as the structure dedicated to serving the health plan beneficiaries. This strategic shift gave rise to the company’s current verticalized model, whose expansion accelerated from 2004 with investments in owned network and acquisitions.

Hapvida’s growth trajectory has been marked by strong inorganic expansion, especially in the North and Northeast regions. Between 2008 and 2010, the company structured its dental care service, initially under the Mais Odonto brand, and acquired Hospital Espinheiro in Recife (state of Pernambuco), as well as local groups such as MMS PE, Santa Clara and Santa Helena. In 2011, it expanded its presence in Ceará, Maranhão, Alagoas and Bahia through acquisitions such as Santa Saúde, Dental Vida, São Lucas and portfolios from Santa Helena, in addition to inaugurating Hospital Teresa de Lisieux in Salvador (state of Bahia). Between 2014 and 2017, the group continued to expand its hospital infrastructure, inaugurating new hospitals, emergency care units and clinics in several states, while investing in technology and consolidating the Hapvida + Odonto brand for nationwide dental plans. In 2017 and 2018, it carried out a broad corporate reorganization of its subsidiaries to simplify the structure and increase management efficiency.

From 2019 onward, Hapvida intensified growth through the acquisition of health insurers and hospitals in new regions, including the countryside of São Paulo, and in the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pará, Bahia and the Federal District. Groups such as São Francisco, América, RN, Medical, São José, Promed, Premium Saúde and hospitals of different sizes were incorporated, expanding both the beneficiary base and the reach of the owned network. In Joinville (state of Santa Catarina), the company marked its entry into the South region with a fully verticalized operation, including a high-complexity hospital, clinics and diagnostic units. In parallel, it carried out targeted moves in technology, such as the acquisition of Maida Health, a healthcare BPO healthtech, which was later sold along with other non-core assets, such as São Francisco Resgate. This strategy reinforced the focus of operations on its core business of health and dental plans integrated into a proprietary care network.

A major milestone in Hapvida’s recent history was the business combination with Notre Dame Intermédica, announced in 2021 and completed in 2022 after unconditional approval by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade). The transaction resulted in a large-scale national group that in 2022 had 16.1 million health and dental beneficiaries and more than 68 thousand employees, with strong geographic complementarity and a broad portfolio of products and hospital facilities. Since then, the company has been carrying out a continuous process of operational and technological integration, including replacement of management systems in units originating from Notre Dame Intermédica, with the goal of standardizing processes, capturing synergies and consolidating the verticalized model in all regions where it operates. In January 2023, the acquisition of the HB Saúde group in São José do Rio Preto (state of São Paulo) further increased its presence in the countryside of São Paulo, adding new beneficiaries and hospital assets to the integrated platform.

Hapvida’s business model is based on operating medical and dental plans under a verticalized structure, in which most services are provided through an owned network of hospitals, clinics, emergency care units and diagnostic centers. As of December 31, 2024, the owned network comprised 86 hospitals with 7,535 beds, 352 medical centers, 77 emergency care units and 292 imaging and lab collection diagnostic units. The company also operates nationwide dental plans through an extensive accredited dentist network. From an economic standpoint, Hapvida’s revenues predominantly come from health and dental insurance, which accounted for about 97% of net operating revenue in 2024, while the direct provision of care services to third parties represented a minor share. The company’s shares, traded on B3 under the ticker HAPV3, reflect this profile as a supplemental healthcare operator with strong vertical integration along the care chain.

Within its medical plan beneficiary portfolio, Hapvida focuses on corporate and individual products with several contracting formats. In December 2024, the health portfolio totaled approximately 8.9 million beneficiaries, distributed across categories such as corporate group plans, plans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), individual/family and group affinity plans. The plans are sold in 19 states and the Federal District, with a preference for cities where the company has its own care infrastructure, especially in the case of individual/family plans. The commercial strategy combines an in-house sales force, brokers focused on larger companies, commercial representatives targeting retail and small businesses, as well as digital channels and call centers. For group affinity plans, the company works in partnership with benefits administrators that provide administrative services to the contracting entities.

In dental plans, Hapvida operates in all Brazilian states through an accredited network, without the need for its own infrastructure. As of December 31, 2024, the portfolio of dental-only plans comprised about 6.9 million beneficiaries, also highly diversified among corporate, SME, individual/family and affinity contracts. The portfolio includes Prevention and Emergency coverage, mixed products with coinsurance for additional procedures, prepaid plans with full coverage of the mandatory list defined by the National Agency for Supplemental Health (ANS) and plans with coverage beyond that list, including services such as orthodontics, orthoses and prostheses. Management of the accredited network uses georeferencing technology to assess provider sufficiency and support accreditation, training and relationship with dentists, seeking to optimize appointment utilization and proximity to beneficiaries.

Hapvida operates within Brazil’s supplemental healthcare sector, regulated by ANS, in a context where the national health system is organized between the public subsystem, represented by SUS, and the private subsystem, which covers about one quarter of the population with medical-hospital and dental plans. The company highlights its position among the largest operators by number of beneficiaries in both segments, with operations across all five regions of the country. Sector regulation influences aspects such as premium readjustments, minimum coverage standards, care network requirements, information transparency and monitoring of indicators such as loss ratio and complaint index. As of December 31, 2024, Hapvida displayed a relatively low General Complaint Index at ANS for its main operator, signaling regulatory performance in line with the supervisory body’s monitoring.

From an operational and management standpoint, Hapvida emphasizes clinical standardization practices, use of electronic medical records, data analytics, chronic patient management and systems integration between the health insurer and the care network, focusing on cost control, waste reduction and quality-of-care monitoring. The company conducts user satisfaction surveys, such as the “Atendimento 5 estrelas” (5-star Care) evaluation program, and has been investing in diagnostic technology projects, exemplified by its partnership with Roche Farmacêutica to implement a Technical Operating Center for laboratory diagnostics in Recife, aimed at centralizing and gaining scale in tests. In terms of geographic expansion, the company continues to assess opportunities to increase the verticalization rate in strategic regions, while adjusting its business portfolio through the divestment of non-core assets, reinforcing its focus on combining health and dental plans with owned and accredited networks integrated on a single platform.

Hapvida operates in an environment of growing relevance of private healthcare spending in Brazil, where premiums paid for health and dental plans have historically grown above GDP in the long term. The company seeks to position itself with a model that combines beneficiary scale, network reach and operational integration, underpinning its presence in the supplemental healthcare market. HAPV3 shares, listed on B3, provide exposure to this set of operations, whose performance is directly linked to its ability to manage healthcare risk, efficiently utilize its owned network, control loss ratios and adapt to regulatory guidelines and to the demographic and economic dynamics that influence demand for health and dental plans in the country.