Imbra will have franchises, with new owner
Valor Econômico
After purchasing the control of Imbra for US$ 1 and receive a loan of R$ 40 million (US$ 22 million) of the former owner, the GP Investments, the new owner of dental implants has ambitious plans for its latest acquisition. The business group Arbeit of São Paulo, wants double the size of Imbra, which now earns nearly R$ 20 million (US$ 11 million) and serves 5,000 customers per month. The main change in the current Imbra business model - considered inefficient by the market - refers to the service network, which currently comprises its own 26 clinics and 670 dentists that generate high fixed cost.
The idea is to work through franchises. "Our goal is to have from 150 to 200 in 18 months. These franchises can be new clinics or dentists that already have offices and buy packages of Imbra implants", said Marco Nishigaki, founder of Arbeit. According to Nishigaki, when joining Imbra, the dentists may offer financings of up to 36 months to their patients. According to sources heard by Valor, one of the problems of Imbra is that when providing these funds the company supports the credit risk. The new owner of Imbra recognizes that there may be default, but that the "default rate" in the company is only 1.5% per month.
Another issue considered by the market as a large generator of expenses is the high investment that Imbra do in marketing. According Nishigaki, the implants´ company invests between R$ 4 million (US$ 2.2 million) and R$ 5 million (US$ 2.8 million) per month in media and may even increase this amount. The expansion of Imbra will be done with the resources of GP Investments. The fund manager has granted a loan of R$ 40 million (US$ 22 million), of which R$ 20 million (US$ 11 million) have already been deposited and the other half is a long-term credit. Besides the expansion, these resources will also be used to pay the debt of Imbra, whose amount the executive does not reveal saying only that "the value of debt is equivalent to the revenue".
The executive is also negotiating the purchase of the remaining 22% of the Imbra capital, which are still in the hands of its founders. "I had a meeting today [yesterday] with the founders and they showed no interest in selling. But we will look for the best way to solve this issue", explained Nishigaki, who created Arbeit in 1998 with businesses in the energy area. According to Nishigaki, his company has annual earnings above R$ 300 million (US$ 167 million) - income resulting from the interests he has in eight hydroelectric plants, in beverage companies (currant Milani, and Maraú Betamix juices) and in the segments of real estate and aviation (AviaServ).