Horta Osório leaves his position as vice-president of the Impresa group, Pedro Barreto is his replacement
Two years and three months after taking office, António Horta Osório resigned from his position as vice-president of the Impresa group due to the “impossibility” of reconciling his international activity with the role he held at the owner of SIC and the Express. In his place comes Pedro Barreto, who until February this year was executive director of BPI bank.
“Antônio Horta Osório conveyed to us his inability to perform, with the desired regularity and presence, his duties as vice president. We understand their situation and we made this decision together, for the benefit of both parties”, explains, in a note, Francisco Pedro Balsemão, CEO of Impresa, who will continue to count on Horta Osório as an advisor (senior advisor).
In the same statement, the 60-year-old Portuguese manager justifies his departure from the vice-presidency: “my international activity prevents me from continuing to follow Impresa with the same regularity as in recent years”.
Since leaving Credit Suisse at the beginning of 2022, António Horta Osório has taken on positions in the administration of several Portuguese companies. In addition to Impresa, he is the non-executive president of the pharmaceutical company Bial, and is a member of the board of directors of the José de Mello group and the Champalimaud Foundation.
At the end of last year, the Financial Times realized that the fund private equity Warburg Pincus had joined Horta Osório in purchasing Altice Portugal’s telecommunications assets for 6 billion euros.
Currently, he assumes functions as advisor of the company private equity Cerberus and the Italian bank Mediobanca. Also director of INPAR and counselor of Precision Capital, a holding of Sheikh Al- Thani, in Qatar. In the summer he joined the Board of Directors of Teya, a financial services company in London that also has a presence in Portugal, dedicated to small and medium-sized companies.
Pedro Barreto, who will occupy the vice-presidency of Impresa, has 36 years of experience at BPI bank, 20 of which as an executive member of the board of directors. He was vice-president of BCI Mozambique for more than 10 years and member of the board of directors of SIBS, Unicre and Allianz between 2014 and 2017. He has a degree in Business Administration and Management from Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
“It was a challenge that I accepted, naturally, with great pleasure. The media sector is going through a period of relevant challenges, but there are also opportunities to be explored. The role of the media, and in particular the Impresa group, in Portuguese society is a determining factor in facing this new stage with enthusiasm”, points out Pedro Barreto.
