By Brazil Stock Guide — Advent International and Bain Capital are more likely to take a minority stake in Amil than buy the Brazilian health-plan operator outright, in a deal that could help prepare the company for a return to the stock market, Brazil Stock Guide has learned.
The talks between Amil, Bain and Advent were first reported by Broadcast.
The structure most likely under discussion is the sale of a sizable minority stake, possibly close to 30%, according to sources. Such a deal could raise about R$10 billion and imply a valuation of more than R$30 billion for Amil in a future IPO. A listing could happen within 18 months to two years, depending on market conditions.
That structure would differ from a straightforward sale by José Seripieri Filho, the Brazilian health-care entrepreneur known as Junior. While a full sale can’t be ruled out in a transaction of this size, a partner deal would allow Amil to bring in a deep-pocketed investor, strengthen governance, accelerate growth and preserve the chance to capture a higher valuation in the capital markets.
Junior has used that playbook before. At Qualicorp, the benefits-management company he founded and took public in 2011, he brought in global private-equity investors at key moments of expansion and liquidity. General Atlantic backed the company during a period of rapid growth, while Carlyle invested before the IPO, helping turn Qualicorp into one of Brazil’s leading private health-benefits platforms. Junior later sold his stake in the company.
The idea now would be to repeat a similar formula on a larger scale: use the capital and endorsement of major international funds to turn a company that has been operationally rebuilt into a listed business, with stronger governance, liquidity and valuation multiples closer to Brazil’s top private health-care assets.
Amil returned to investors’ radar after a sharp recovery under Junior, who bought the company back from UnitedHealth. The deal closed at the end of 2023, and he took over the business in February 2024. The acquisition involved a cash payment of more than R$2 billion and the assumption of debt and other liabilities, in a transaction valued at more than R$10 billion.
Since then, Amil has gone through a broad restructuring. The company cut costs, redesigned its product lineup, raised prices, reduced risks tied to legal contingencies on its balance sheet and resumed aggressive growth, especially in the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo corridor. The expansion has been driven by regional health plans and small and midsize business clients, at a time when competitors such as Hapvida and parts of the Unimed system have faced operational and competitive pressure.
The recovery also included a reshaping of Amil’s hospital footprint. Since taking over, Junior has helped structure two major health-care delivery networks: Rede Américas, a hospital joint venture with Dasa, which is linked to the Bueno family, and Rede Total Care, Grupo Amil’s own care network. Together, the two networks include more than 40 hospitals and care units, strengthening Amil’s position in the segment.
In 2025, Amil reported net income of R$5.4 billion. But much of that result came from accounting and nonrecurring items, including R$2.1 billion in tax credits and about R$1.4 billion in gains tied to the hospital reorganization with Dasa. Excluding those effects, recurring profit would be closer to R$1.9 billion – still a significant improvement, but far below the headline accounting profit.
A valuation of more than R$30 billion would put Amil in demanding territory. Based on recurring profit of about R$1.9 billion, the company would be valued at roughly 16 times earnings, a multiple closer to premium health-care assets such as Rede D’Or than to insurers still under pressure.
The performance has strengthened the view that an asset long seen by parts of the market as under-managed during its years under UnitedHealth now has an owner, a strategy and the ability to execute.
Amil’s recovery has also been helped by a less strained regulatory backdrop. Changes by Brazil’s health regulator, ANS, involving guarantee assets have given health-plan operators more financial flexibility by easing pressure on regulatory reserves and improving liquidity in a sector still recovering from the pandemic, medical inflation and deteriorating claims ratios.
For Bain and Advent, a stake in Amil would offer exposure to one of the few Brazilian health-plan platforms with the scale to pursue national growth while still capturing efficiency gains after years of weak execution. Bain has experience in the sector through its past investment in NotreDame Intermédica, which later combined with Hapvida. Advent has a long track record in regulated businesses and services in Brazil.
Amil was once a public company. Founded by the Godoy Bueno family, it went public in 2007 and was sold in 2012 to UnitedHealth in a transaction worth about R$10 billion. The U.S. health-care giant’s years in Brazil were marked by operational problems, loss of momentum and questions about its ability to compete in a local, regulated market that depends heavily on relationships with doctors, hospitals, brokers and corporate clients.
Contacted by Brazil Stock Guide, Amil said it doesn’t comment on market speculation. Advent and Bain also declined to comment to Broadcast.