Aliansce Meets Tough IPO Crowd

Brazilian mall operator Aliansce succeeded in pricing its IPO Wednesday evening, though at a price well below what it originally sought. However, the deal is viewed as more of a success than a flop by both bankers and investors. “I liked this deal,” says an investor, who nonetheless declined to participate and says he will watch how it trades in the secondary. At BRL9.00 per share price Aliansce weighed in some 22% below the targeted midpoint of BRL11.50. Still, says the buysider, the EV/Ebitda ratio of around 11x 2011 earnings is in line with BR Malls and Multiplan’s multiples, and slightly below the 13x Iguatemi is trading at. The deal apparently struggled to price and had only 75% of its book filled by early Wednesday, according to an investor watching the process. A small group of committed investors helped maintain a bid, he adds. At BRL9.00, deal proceeds add up to BRL673m, including the sale of 24.8m secondary shares and 50.0m primary units. If it had priced at the midpoint of the targeted BRL10.00-BRL13.00 range, total proceeds including a hot issue and greenshoe, would have added up to BRL1bn. The deal’s leads have 30 days to exercise a greenshoe for 9.75m shares. The IPO was led by BTG Pactual, Itau BBA, JPMorgan and Bradesco BBI.