Dealflow | August 31, 2020

Blue Like an Orange invests in “transitional” health care in Brazil

Amy Cortese
ImpactAlpha Editor

Amy Cortese

ImpactAlpha, Aug. 31 – Blue Like an Orange, a $200 million structured debt fund, extended BRL 30 million (about $5.5 million) to Placi Cuidados Extensivos, which is developing the market for “transitional” health care in Brazil.

Placi offers an alternative between acute hospital care and homecare, a new concept in Brazil, for patients needing rehabilitation and palliative care. In the COVID crisis – Brazil is second only to the U.S. in the number of cases – Placi is treating recovering patients who are not well enough to go home, freeing up hospital beds for critical cases.

The funding will help Placi quadruple its patient load. “As an impact fund, making healthcare more inclusive and more humane is suddenly a big factor for us in the region,” Blue Orange’s Cristina Penteado told ImpactAlpha. “Placi has the potential to be a leader in the transformation.”

Blue Like an Orange closes $200 million for Latin America fund

Latin America focus

Blue Like an Orange closed its first fund at $200 million in June. The firm was founded by former World Bank CFO Bertrand Badré to marshal private capital for the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. It has backed small business lender Produbanco, ride hailing company Cabify, small business IT services firm Cimcorp/Qintess, and fintech venture Movii. The Placi financing is Blue Like an Orange’s second deal in Brazil and first in the healthcare sector.

SDG targets

BlueOrange early this year released its framework for evaluating investments against the Sustainable Development Goals.

Blue Like an Orange offers a report card for the Sustainable Development Goals (podcast)

The firm did not disclose Placi’s baseline ratings, but Suprotik Basu told ImpactAlpha the deal “comfortably cleared our minimum investment threshold” and scored particularly well on SDG 3.8 (“Achieve universal health coverage…”) and 3.c (“Substantially increase health financing…”).

Basu said the deal will be evaluated annually on quality indicators, including rates of hospital-acquired infection and rehospitalization.