The living room sector has been on the rise in recent times in Spain and industry experts think that it will be one of the most striking areas for real estate investors. Thus, Urbas has decided to bet on creating new business areas and will focus on the healthcare sector (senior living, senior housing and socio-sanitary residential centers) and on the service area (security, maintenance and cleaning).
The company, which already participates in various economic fields with its ‘Real Estate Development’, ‘Infrastructure and Building’ and ‘Energy and Industry’ divisions, will call this new line of business ‘Urbas Services’. After the agreement signed with the Belgian Socimi Care Property Invest (CPI) and the purchase of Fortia Healthcare, Urbas has positioned itself in the senior segment with a potential portfolio of 10,000 residential and socio-healthcare beds until 2030.
In charge of this new area will be Juan José López-Ibor as general manager, with the aim of reinforcing Urbas’ competitiveness and expanding the group’s projection in these two segments of Healthcare and Services.
López-Ibor has more than 25 years of business experience in projects related to healthcare and health. With a degree in Economics and Business Administration (ICADE E-2 and a Master’s in Computer Systems from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas), he is a member of the board of trustees of the Juan José López-Ibor Foundation and since 2006 he has been a managing partner of Global Health, a strategic and Business focused on the health, mental health, elderly and well-being sector.
He was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Clínica López-Ibor for nine years, until its sale to the French multinational Orpea, at which time he was appointed Director of Mental Health Development for Spain, Portugal and Latin America at Orpea Lopez-Ibor. .
His professional career is completed by advising venture capital and M&A funds, and investment projects related to health, psychiatry and mental health. “The Spanish market offers unbeatable opportunities to continue growing sustainably in the segment of nursing homes, Senior Living and Senior Housing due to the structural deficit of quality places, the age of the existing stock, the aging of the population and the security of a growing demand”, explains the president and CEO of Urbas, Juan Antonio Acedo.
