Category: Equity

BTG Pactual is said to be close to filing for its long-awaited IPO, seen by the markets raising BRL1bn-BRL2bn ($588m-$1.2bn). JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are heard having joined BTG’s own ECM team in managing the sale thus far, with the possibility to add another bank. With the Bovespa up 16.2% this year through Tuesday, and many issuers rushing to the market, now may be as good a time as any to float the roughly 10% piece of the bank to raise funds for its continued expansion. BTG was able to delay the IPO plan somewhat thanks to the $1.8bn private sale of 18.65% to a group of private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, family vehicles and a few of the bank’s own senior management, done in late 2010.

Brazilian vehicle fleet rental company Locamerica is planning an IPO to raise more than BRL200m ($118m). The issuer plans a BRL200m primary share portion, and Banco Votarntim’s BV Empreendimentos e Participacoes private equity fund will sell 75% of its holdings, in a secondary portion, expected to be at least as big as the primary portion, indicating a minimum BRL400m size. Locamerica does not give an estimation of the total size and the timing. It plans to use 60% of the proceeds for expanding its fleet and the remainder for working capital. Banco do Brasil, Banco Votorantim, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BTG Pactual and Itau are managing the sale. It is expected to file shortly, and join a pack of what bankers say is as many as 10 upcoming Brazilian equity sales. The group, aiming for April or May pricings if conditions hold, may include IPOs from BTG Pactual, Seabras, and Isolux and follow-ons from Taesa and Qualicorp. Travel agency CVC has let its IPO filing from late last year run out, according to the CVM, but sources close to the deal insist the company still plans to resubmit and proceed with a sale.

Carlyle Group and a Qualicorp official are planning a secondary share equity follow-on in the Brazilian health insurer, Qualicorp says. There were few immediate details, but a deal of at least BRL850m ($497m) is heard in the works. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bradesco, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, managers of Qualicorp’s BRL1.08bn IPO last year, are expected to manage the offering. The two selling shareholders are Carlyle’s holding vehicle and a vehicle owned by founder and board president Jose Seripieri Filho. The two were the sellers in the BRL731m secondary portion of the IPO. Qualicorp shares closed Thursday at BRL16.00.

Brazil’s Cemig is heard moving ahead with an equity sale for its Transmissora do Atlantico de Energia Eletrica (Taesa) transmission unit. BTG Pactual and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have been hired to manage the deal, according to ECM sources familiar with the plan. The follow-on sale would in many ways function as an IPO for the relatively illiquid shares. Cemig bought Taesa, then known as Terna Participacoes, in 2009 from Italy’s Terna, and has indicated it would look to increase the unit’s float. Taesa shares closed at BRL45.21 Thursday.