Portugal's Communist Party wanted to propose the nationalization of Portuguese healthcare group Espirito Santo Saude (ES Saude), which is now up for sale, at Parliament.
"The Communist Party (PCP) will propose the government to take necessary measures to transfer all Espirito Santo Saude assets to the public sphere," President of PCP Joao Oliveira told local media.
Fosun international's Portuguese insurance subsidiary Fidelidade is currently offering to buy the group for as much as 460.5 million euros, while other competitors have dropped out.
According to local media reports, the Communist Party considers that since Espirito Santo Saude is part of Espirito Santo Group which the government had to bail out its Portuguese banking arm Banco Espirito Santo, it should belong to the state and safeguard the interests of employees and clients.
ES Saude is 51 percent owned by Luxembourg-based Espirito Santo Group, which filed for creditor protection in July following detection of accounting irregularities. The Espirito Santo Group's financial troubles led to a state-backed 3.9 billion euro bailout of the Bank Banco Espirito Santo in August.