Following up on a transaction it first contemplated last year, Brazil’s Gafisa has filed for Alphaville Urbanismo to become a listed company, according to the CVM, the first step in the IPO process. Claiming the market underestimated the value of the unit, the homebuilder last year mentioned carving out the high-income housing development through an IPO or selling a stake privately as possible remedies. An investor relations official at the company declines to comment on the process beyond Monday’s initial filing. Rothschild and Bain & Company have been advising on the matter. The market value of Alphaville inventories totaled BRL812m at the end of 2012, Gafisa claims in its most recent financial reports, an increase of 43% from the previous year. Gafisa bought 60% of the Alphaville unit in 2006, before adding another 20% in 2010.
Category: Equity
Argos Picks Banks
Colombia’s Cementos Argos has named JPMorgan and HSBC to lead a planned equity follow-on, according to sources familiar with the deal. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Itau are also on the transaction. Details and timing remain to be determined, but the maximum size approved recently by shareholders is 250m shares, which would raise COP2.18trn ($1.19bn) at the most recent COP8,700 closing price.
Enersis Crosses Finish Line
Chile’s Enersis has auctioned off 157m primary shares, selling the last sliver of its CLP2.84trn ($6.00bn) equity capital increase and reaching 100% of its target, it says. The sale came at CLP182.30 per share, higher than the CLP173.00 price used in the rights offering period. The energy holdco for the LatAm assets of Spain’s Endesa sold 16.44bn shares in total, including through a $625m American Depositary Shares (ADS) sale. JPMorgan, BTG Pactual and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were global coordinators on the ADS sale, with Banchile, BBVA, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, LarrainVial, Morgan Stanley and Santander as bookrunners. JPMorgan, Celfin, BBVA, Santander, LarrainVial, Banchile and BAML managed the local side. The controversial transaction was approved in December, after months of back and forth with regulators and minority investors. Endesa subscribed its portion with its LatAm assets that don’t already belong to Enersis, and needed negotiations with Chilean pension funds and multiple outside evaluations to reach agreement on the assets’ value. The process will raise funds for acquisition opportunities and streamline Endesa’s operations in LatAm by placing all of its holdings under Enersis. Enersis shares closed at CLP182.31 Thursday.
Germans Increase MPX Stake
Germany’s E.ON has agreed to pay at least BRL1.78bn ($886m) to increase its stake in Brazil’s MPX, MPX says, through a direct purchase of shares from controller Eike Batista and participation in a planned equity follow-on. Batista has agreed to sell 142m shares, or 24.5%, of the power generation company to E.ON, at BRL10.00 each, a price adjustable to as much as BRL11.00 each depending on certain conditions. The move takes E.ON to a 36.2% position. MPX plans to follow this with a public follow-on sale of primary shares, in which E.ON has committed to exercise its rights for at least BRL367m, at the same BRL10.00 per share price. BTG Pactual has been hired to manage the sale, for which the timing remains to be set. MPX and E.ON have signed a shareholder agreement establishing E.ON’s voting rights. The two parties’ existing joint venture is also to be folded back into MPX.
Maxcom Extends Debt, Equity Tenders
Maxcom Telecomunicaciones has pushed back the deadline for its bond and equity tender to April 10, from March 27, it says. As of March 27, it had received acceptance from holders of $123m, or 61.44%, of the outstanding 11.0% 2014 bonds, and from holders of 355m, or 44.89%, Maxcom shares. Following its sale last year to private equity buyers, Maxcom is offering bondholders new 2020 step-up notes, at a rate of $1,000 per $1,000 principal, having also agreed to pay the early tender price through the conclusion of the entire offer. The 2020 bonds pay 6.0% during the first three years, 7.0% during the following two years and 8.0% during the final two years. It is offering MXP2.90 ($0.22) per share in the equity portion. Maxcom has also waived the minimum acceptance conditions for each offer. The debt and equity offers are each contingent on completion of the other. The offers follow the agreement last year for Mexican private equity firm Ventura Capital Privado to buy Maxcom, at an enterprise value of about $270m.
Multiplus Grounds Follow-on
Brazil’s Multiplus has cancelled plans to sell shares in an equity follow-on, it says, citing poor market conditions. The airline mileage rewards program had been targeting $400m-equivalent through the sale of 31m primary shares. The deal had been scheduled for April 12, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BTG Pactual and JPMorgan managing. The news comes in contrast to the well-received follow-on last week from mall operator Multiplan, which sold $350m in an upsized transaction. A number of Brazilian equity issuers remain in the pipeline for April, beginning with a $400m IPO from Biosev, scheduled for April 15.
Rio Bravo Readies Commercial RE Fund
Brazilian investment firm Rio Bravo is preparing a BRL366m ($182m) fundo de investimento imobiliario (FII) real estate fund, according to a prospectus. The fund is to contain eight commerical properties located mostly in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The timing remains to be determined. Citi and XP Investimentos are managing the transaction, which can be upsized to as much as BRL400m.
BTG Preps RE Fund of Fund Retap
BTG Pactual is preparing to reopen its real estate fund of funds for up to BRL500m. The Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario (FII) BTG Pactual Fundo de Fundos invests in other FII funds, as well as in other real estate instruments, including certificados de credito imobiliarios (CRI) and letras hipotecarias (LH). As of December, 84% of the fund’s assets were FII shares, and 14% CRI. The transaction is able to be upsized by as much as BRL150m. BTG was due to conclude the rights offering period by April 5, and wrap up the reopening, the fund’s fifth, by May, according to a prospectus., BTG is managing the transaction. The fund’s shares closed at BRL124.00 each.
Enersis Tops 99%
Chile’s Enersis reached a 99.04% shareholder subscription rate for its CLP2.84trn ($6.00bn) equity capital increase, it says. The energy holdco had sold 16.28bn of 16.44bn shares on offer as of the subscription period’s close, with the remainder to be offered in an auction today, at CLP173 each. The subscription period included the $625m sale of American Depositary Shares (ADS). JPMorgan, BTG Pactual and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were global coordinators on the ADS sale, with Banchile, BBVA, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, LarrainVial, Morgan Stanley and Santander as bookrunners. JPMorgan, Celfin, BBVA, Santander, LarrainVial, Banchile and BAML managed the local side. The controversial transaction was approved in December, after months of back and forth with regulators and minority investors. Endesa subscribed its portion with its LatAm assets that don’t already belong to Enersis, and needed negotiations with Chilean pension funds and multiple outside evaluations to reach agreement on the assets’ value. The process will raise funds for acquisition opportunities and streamline Endesa’s operations in LatAm by placing all of its holdings under Enersis. Enersis shares closed at CLP182.41 Wednesday.
Investors Line Up for Brazilian Mall Follow-on
Brazil’s Multiplan has priced a BRL705m ($351m) follow-on, coming at less than 1% discount and using maximum overallotment options. The transaction was multiple times oversubscribed, according to people familiar with the terms. The mall operator priced 12.2m primary shares at BRL58.00 each, according to the CVM, versus Wednesday’s BRL58.40 closing price. The share total includes a 20% hot issue, as well as the assumed exercise of a 15% greenshoe. “Of all the shopping mall companies, this is probably the best managed,” says a Brazil-based investor participating in the deal. “It doesn’t stand out on a price-to-earnings basis, but if you look at the assets they have, the company is likely trading below its net asset value,” he adds, highlighting the land Multiplan owns and its projects in development. The buyside continues to see shopping malls as a sector resistant to much of the gloom surrounding the Bovespa and Brazil’s economy. Multiplan’s shares are down about 3.5% in 2013, compared to a 7% drop in the Bovespa. The transaction kicks off a month scheduled to feature several Brazilian ECM deals, and underscores the relative ease with which follow-ons can get done. “The equity market is still weak in Brazil,” says a New York ECM banker. He notes the polarization continuing from last year in which the market is receptive for follow-ons from established issuers, but prohibitive for new or illiquid names. The April pipeline includes both types of issuer, with follow-ons from Multiplus and Abril Educacao, and IPOs from Biosev and Smiles. A carve out IPO of Banco do Brasil’s insurance business is seen as big enough and backed by a well-enough known name to overcome IPO skepticism, though not at any price, bankers say. Multiplan is raising funds to develop new projects and expand existing properties. The issuer’s free float was not expected to change significantly following the offering, remaining at about 40%. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bradesco, BTG Pactual, Credit S