Alfa’s Alpek Revives IPO Hopes

Mexico’s Grupo Alfa has made initial filings for an IPO of its Alpek Petrochemichals subsidiary, it says. The conglomerate does not give further indications of timing or other details, but Credit Suisse, Citi, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are heard to be managing the process. The plan is to sell a Mexican registered portion in the local market, and a 144A issue abroad. Any deal wanting to price using the September 30 numbers would need to happen by the second week of February, according to ECM bankers. Both bankers and investors see large blue-chip names as the key to opening the region’s new issue markets this year and to reviving them from last year’s weak pace. “Volatility is down and investors are ready to analyze transactions,” says an ECM banker away from Alpek. “Especially with IPOs, valuations are under pressure. Whoever jumps first has to be good and large,” says another. Alpek has 21 plants in 3 countries, and booked $4.8bn in revenues in 2010. Elsewhere in the market, Andino Investment Holdings is readying a Peru local-only IPO, and Cementos Pacasmayo is planning a New-York follow-on. Bancolombia kicked the year off with an $885m follow-on set to close later this month, and the first Brazilians out of the gate could include IPOs from travel agencies CVC and Brazil Travel.