Category: Equity

Ser Educacao has adjusted its IPO documents to the satisfaction of the CVM, and plans to finalize pricing Friday, it says. The Brazilian for-profit educator is expected to keep the BRL17.50 per share price – suggesting a BRL620m ($286m) total transaction size – that it set last week before regulators suspended it on a technicality. The issuer has also given investors until today to cancel orders. Ser is offering 35.4m shares, assuming a 15% greenshoe, and the BRL17.50 price came below the BRL19.50-BRL23.50 range. Half of the base deal was to be secondary shares sold by owners including founder and controller Janguie Diniz. The issuer focused on Brazil’s rapidly growing North and Northeast is raising funds for acquisitions and organic growth. BTG Pactual, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Santander are managing the deal. The process was held up after regulators determined Ser had given incomplete information regarding new tax benefit rules adopted this year for education companies involved in the government’s ProUni program. Peer Anima Educacao made similar additions to its prospectus this week, and has allowed investors a similar period to cancel, ahead of its BRL500m IPO that remains scheduled for Thursday.

Anima Educacao has added new information to its IPO prospectus and added a deadline date for potential investors to call off their bids for the deal targeting more than BRL500m ($229m), it says. The move follows Grupo Ser’s IPO being suspended Friday after Brazilian regulators deemed it had provided incomplete information in its prospectus. Ser, an issuer in the same Brazilian for-profit education sector, priced below the range Friday, and would complete the raising of BRL620m once it corrects the matter. Anima plans to price Thursday 21.1m primary shares and 4.1m secondary shares at BRL16.50-BRL22.00 each, meaning a BRL543m size at the midpoint if a 15% greenshoe is included. Secondary shares are being sold by a private equity fund linked to BR Investimentos, which bought into the company last year and holds a 30.5% stake. Anima is raising funds to expand organically and through acquisitions. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Itau are managing the sale.

Via Varejo has filed for an equity follow-on, it says. The Brazilian retailer is planning to sell both primary and secondary shares. Size and timing remain to be determined, though the controlling Klein family indicated earlier this year that it planned to sell 16%. The planned sale is to include units representing one common and two preferred shares. Bradesco, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have been hired to manage. The Kleins own 47% of Via Varejo, which runs the Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio stores.

BB Seguridade, the insurance arm of Banco do Brasil carved out earlier this year, plans to list ADRs, it says. It does not indicate that new funds would be raised in the operation. BB Seguridade raised $5.74bn-equivalent in its IPO in April, with the shares up 42.5% through Friday.

Ser Educacional set a below-the-range price Friday for an IPO targeting BRL620m ($286m), before regulators stepped in to suspend the transaction on a technicality. The for-profit educator priced at BRL17.50 per share, according to people familiar with the terms, below the BRL19.50-BRL23.50 range. However, the CVM decided later Friday to postpone the sale for up to 30 days, due to “the prospectus not having complete, precise and current information,” the regulator says. The CVM adds that the suspension may be removed once the issuer corrects the problem. The effect on the pricing was not immediately clear late Friday. Ser is selling 35.4m shares, assuming a 15% greenshoe, at BRL17.50 each, indicating a BRL620m total. The deal had multiple times demand at its pricing point, according to a person familiar with the terms. Half of the base deal was to be secondary shares sold by owners including founder and controller Janguie Diniz. The issuer focused on Brazil’s rapidly growing North and Northeast is raising funds for acquisitions and organic growth. BTG Pactual, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Santander are managing. Peer Anima Educacao, targeting a BRL500m IPO, is to follow next week. Even if the Ser deal stands, the price level is not good news for fellow Brazilian issuers hoping to get out the door before 2014, notably travel agency CVC, which has re-filed for an attempt at an IPO. “Brazil is still the same game, the smaller the deal the more challenging it is,” says a Brazil-based ECM banker, noting that the same difficulties remain as in 2011 and 2012 – international investors need size and bankers don’t give their clients realistic price targets. Next year, he expects activity to be compressed into 1H 2014, due to the World Cup and elections. Brazilians have raised $12.64bn in the ECM so far this year from 30 transactions, including Ser, according to Dealogic data, with $5.74bn coming from the BB Seguridade IPO alone. This is out of a $33.98bn LatAm total from 7

Ser Educacional is scheduled to price today an IPO targeting more than BRL700m ($326m), in a deal that should offer the latest test of market appetite for the Brazilian consumer story. The for-profit educator is offering 15.4m primary and 15.4m secondary shares at BRL19.50-BRL23.50 each, according to regulatory documents, meaning a BRL761m deal at the midpoint if a 15% greenshoe is included. The focused on Brazil’s rapidly growing North and Northeast is raising funds for acquisitions and organic growth, and is betting that the sector – one of the strongest in the Brazilian consumer demand picture – can still attract investors that may be skittish about other components of the Brazilian story. The sellers in the secondary portion include founder and controller Janguie Diniz. Ser Educacional claims to be the biggest educator in the two regions, and booked BRL85m in Ebitda in 1H 2013, up from 49m in 1H 2012, and BRL90m in all of 2012, up from BRL56m in 2011. BTG Pactual, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Santander are managing. Peer Anima Educacao is to follow next week.