Gafisa Debuts In NY

Brazilian property developer and construction company Gafisa debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, adding its ADRs to those of the other 31 Brazilian firms already trading on the exchange. Meanwhile, the company fixed the price for its local share offering at 26 reais per share, below that of last year’s IPO when it achieved a rate of 33 reais per share. The company is hoping to raise over 1 billion reais ($478 million) by offering 39.7 million shares – 18.7 million shares via a primary offering and 20.9 million via a secondary offering. Merrill Lynch, Itaú BBA and Citi are coordinating. Gafisa launched its IPO on Bovespa last February, raising $433 million from the sale of 400 million shares.