João Ferreira Rebelo has spent over 12 years as the head of legal and compliance for Luz Saúde, one of Portugal’s largest healthcare companies that runs a total of 20 different units including hospitals, private clinics and senior residences throughout Portugal. During this time Rebelo has proven himself as being one of the most pre-eminent lawyers in the sector, having grown symbiotically with the company as it has established new ventures, including the construction and opening of Hospital da Luz, Luz Saúde’s biggest hospital.

Speaking of his career highlights, Rebelo mentions the IPO involving Luz Saúde, a ‘very complex and time consuming’ venture which he had a key involvement in. The Luz Saúde group was later subject to four different tender offers from other healthcare groups, which again saw a complex process ending with the acquisition of Fidelidade/Fosun Group, the present major shareholder of Luz Saúde Group.

‘As head of legal, I had a very important role-play during the transition process, building bridges with the new shareholders and the executive committee and the board of directors’, he says. The Luz Saúde in-house legal team is currently comprised of 12 people who deal with a range of matters including ‘day-to-day corporate housekeeping and big M&A projects’ in Portugal and abroad. Keen to stress his position as being more than “just a lawyer”, Rebelo‘s role extends ‘far beyond only the simple legal issues’, and he claims that working on ‘market vision and management knowledge’ are ‘crucial’ in providing the optimal advice to his business colleagues on the executive committee and board of directors.

Speaking to his networking abilities and contacts in the legal world of Portugal, he states: ‘I work on a daily basis with the major law offices in Portugal and abroad. Establishing a strong and healthy relation with external law offices is crucial to the business and to guarantee the success of the different processes’. Recently he was ‘highly involved in several M&A projects, such as the acquisition of Hospital da Luz Guimarães (2016) and British Hospital (2017)’. Highly ethical, he is also a teacher of health law and a frequent speaker in conferences and seminars regarding healthcare management and ethics: ‘I am currently collaborating with ADVITA – (Association for the Development of New Initiatives for Life), a non-profit organisation, which has two different goals: giving support to caregivers, as well as developing programs to support needy citizens in need of urgent medical care services’.