Eike Batista plans to put $1bn in equity into his OSX shipbuilding company, OSX says, fulfilling a put option agreement that was part of its March 2010 IPO. In addition to Batista’s own money, he may use financing to fulfill his pledge, having agreed to BRL1.8bn ($1.0bn) in two-year loans from Bradesco and Itau, according to OSX. Separately, Batista’s EBX Group has struck a joint venture deal with global catering company the Newrest Group, EBX says. The new venture, NRX-NEWREST, will focus on offering catering services to airlines and railways as well as off-shore and remote operations for the oil sectors and others in Brazil. In 2011, Newrest posted $800m in worldwide sales.
Category: Equity
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Isolux Withdraws Brazil IPO
Spanish infrastructure company Isolux Corsan has withdrawn registration documents for the IPO of its Brazil-based Isolux Infrastructure unit, according to the CVM. It had filed for the deal last year, via Credit Suisse and Santander. Isolux Infrastructure operates road concessions, transmission lines and solar energy plants in Brazil, India, Italy, Spain, the US, Mexico and Peru, and transferred its headquarters to Sao Paulo last year to focus on EM expansion. Proceeds from the primary share-only sale were destined to go towards investments in transmission and road concessions, and also for working capital and repaying debt. It has been active in Brazil since 2000, and the country accounts for 50% of the EUR7.5bn ($10.8bn) of projects the company is developing worldwide.
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Copec Spends $300m in Colombian Tender
Chilean fuel distributor Compania de Petroleos de Chile (Copec) has increased its stake in Colombian distribution company Proenergia to 98.24%, after spending COP519bn ($295m) in a public tender offer, it says. As part of its ongoing takeover of Colombian fuel distributor Terpel, Copec has bought 55m shares at COP9,280 each, in the offer launched February 27 and closed March 9. Copec has said plans to use its own resources to fund the purchase, and says it has $125m-equivalent in credit guarantees from three Chilean banks. Proenergia controls 52.78% of Sociedad de Inversiones en Energia, which in turn controls Terpel. Corredores Asociasos managed the tender process. Copec acquired an initial 47.2% stake in Proenergia when it bought the assets of AEI in Colombia last year, and has been adding to it since, including buying a 10% position held by Corficolombiana.
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DB Eyes ECM Expansion with Hire
Deutsche Bank has hired Jeffrey Bunzel, it says, to head ECM in the Americas. Bunzel is due to start in September, after 18 years at Credit Suisse. He will be managing director, reporting to Mark Hantho, global co-head ECM. As Bunzel was involved in many LatAm deals at CS, his hiring is expected to help Deutsche win more ECM mandates in the region, according to sources at the Bank. There are no specific plans to add additional staff to the bank’s regional ECM team, which now numbers less than 10, they say.
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Qualicorp Sets Selldown Date
Brazil’s Qualicorp will start meeting investors March 28 ahead of the April 12 pricing of its equity follow-on, according to a prospectus. In the all-secondary share deal, private equity firm Carlyle and founder Jose Seripieri Filho stand to earn BRL836m ($465m) from the sale of 55.8m shares, based on Monday’s BRL 14.99 close and assuming a 15% greenshoe is used. Both were sellers in the BRL731m secondary portion of last year’s IPO, and are further reducing their holdings. Carlyle is set to go from a 39.49% stake to 26.03%, and Seripieri from 27.85% to 19.85%, assuming the greenshoe is exercised. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bradesco, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are managing the transaction.
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Chile Bolsa to Add Derivatives
The Bolsa de Santiago is planning to launch this year trading in certain derivative instruments, it says. The objective is to attract foreign investors in the hope of doubling the amount traded on the bolsa. The exchange is working in partnership with Brazil’s BM&FBovespa to have IPSA index, fixed income and dollar futures before the end of June, and present options for stocks in the second half.
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Fibria Plans Follow-on, Unloads Land
Continuing with its multiyear plan to strengthen finances, Brazil’s Fibria is planning to raise BRL1.25bn ($710m) in an equity follow-on, and has agreed to offload land assets to raise $235m, it says. The pulp and paper producer is preparing to file for an equity offering to raise additional funds, but does not offer any additional details. Barclays spots the offering at 17.6% of Fibra’s market cap, it says in a report. It would be the first offering under the new Fibria name, though both Votorantim Celulose e Papel and Aracruz are longtime Bovespa members. VCP last issued for $253m equivalent in 2003, and VCP for $234m equivalent in 1995, according to Dealogic data. Fibria shares closed at BRL15.20 Thursday. Fibria also has agreed to sell forestry assets in the southern part of Bahia state Corus Agroflorestal, for BRL235m. Corus also has the option to buy Fibria’s 33% stake in the Bahia Produtos de Madeira sawmill, located in the same region. It hopes to finalize the land sales by June. “Although the announced measures will help the company to respect covenants in 1Q and 2Q 2012, we do not see them as the ultimate solution for leverage,” Barclays says. The shop sees net debt to Ebitda reaching 3.8x, under a bullish pulp price scenario, noting it would prefer 3.0x-3.5x.
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JBS Ups Stake in Pilgrim’s Pride
Brazilian meatpacker JBS has paid $143.3m to increase its stake in US chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride to 68%, through the most recent company share offering. Pilgrim’s sold 44.4m new shares at $4.50 per share to revamp its capital structure, and through that offer, JBS spent $134m to maintain its original 67.2% stake, a Pilgrim’s spokeswoman confirms. JBS spent an additional $9.3m to raise its stake to 68%, based on company data. The Pilgrim’s spokeswoman declined to offer additional details and JBS officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Pilgrim’s managed to secure $200m from the sale of the new shares. JBS first acquired a stake in Pilgrim’s in 2009 with the financial backing of Brazil’s BNDES development bank.
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CME, Bovespa Strike Cross-Listing Deal
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) has struck a deal with Brazil’s BM&FBovespa (BVMF) for the cross listing and licensing of traded index- and commodities-based futures, it says. Under the deal, the CME will list dollar-denominated futures of the Bovespa, while the BVMF will offer dollar-denominated S&P 500 index futures settled in BRL. The Brazilian market will also list the Chicago Board of Trade’s Mini-sized Soybean futures and the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures in the second and third quarters of this year, respectively. Officials at the CME were not immediately available for comment. A BVMF investor relations officer says the deal involves an agreement to share the revenue generated by the trading of these securities, in which the owner of the security will take the larger share of the revenues. He declined to offer details of the deals, however. The BVMF official said the market will also pay a license for the use of the S&P 500 product and for the market data generated by the trading of the futures contract at the CME.
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Brazilian Furniture Maker Plans IPO
Unicasa Industria de Moveis, a Brazilian furniture manufacturer, has registered for an IPO. The company’s documents do not indicate the size or timing of the sale, which is to involve primary shares, as well as secondary shares sold by controller Alexandre Bartelle and members of the Zietolie family. Unicasa, which through its Dell Anno, Favorita, New and Telesul brands targets all levels of the Brazilian income ladder, is raising funds for expansion, particularly in products aimed at the country’s C class. A portion of the primary proceeds would also be used to pay a dividend to shareholders, according to the filing. Unicasa claims to be Brazil’s sector leader in terms of gross revenue – BRL402m ($228m) in 2011 – and that it has the potential to open 566 new stores throughout Brazil, including 457 for its New brand targeting the C class. The issuer, founded in 1985 and based in Bento Goncalves in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, posted BRL80.4m in Ebitda in 2011, up from BRL72.9m in 2010. BTG Pactual, Itau and Santander have been hired to manage the process. Brazil’s IPO pipeline is building, as is optimism that the country could finally price its first IPO of the year as soon as next month. The list includes the debut of rental car provider Locamerica and of oil services provider Seabras, as well as the highly anticipated sale from BTG Pactual that could top BRL2bn.