Core invests €8.5 million to create chain of rehab clinics

Core Capital, a Portuguese private venture capital firm that invests in Portuguese small and medium-sized industrial companies, has invested €8.5 million in Moveclinics with plans to buy the Costa Maia Group.

The idea is to consolidate the two regional companies to create a chain of 13 rehabilitation clinics as part of a national health sector group with plans to expand.

Physiotherapy specialists Moveclinics has nine clinics in Greater Lisbon and the Costa Maia Group has four similar physiotherapy rehabilitation units – three in the North and one in Greater Lisbon,

The operation is the 8th that Core Capital has made on the back of the programme Consolidate (Consolidar) an investment instrument from Portugal’s development bank Banco Português de Fomento which draws on funds provided through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

It means that private equity and venture capital companies can apply for funds from the bank with a minimum investment of €40 million for each investment whereby 30% of the investment must be matched from private sources and the rest financed from the Banco de Fomento managed Capitalisation and Resilience Fund (FdCR) – an investment instrument financed by the RRP – which can range from as little as €10 million up to €50 million.

“We’re turning two regional groups into one national group while retaining the partners, Paulo Marques and Luís Cumbrera Tavares who know the business best.

“We are the majority shareholders and they will retain the management because we continue to believe that those in the know should continue to run things”, said Martim Avillez Figueiredo, one of the partners of Core Capital.