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EI Moves into Colombia

Equity International (EI), the investment vehicle founded by Gary Garrabrant and billionaire Sam Zell, has made a $75m investment in Colombian developer Terranum Development. The stake in the privately-held corporate real estate specialist is EI’s first venture into the Andean nation. Privately-held Terranum Development has a pipeline and portfolio totaling $500m and is a part of real estate developer Terranum, co-owned by boutique investment bank Estrategias Corporativas and the Santo Domingo family. EI has been active in Brazilian real estate, owning part of BR Malls and recently exiting a position in homebuilder Gafisa.

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Pemex Ups Stake in Repsol

Pemex plans to raise its position in Spain’s Repsol by 5%, to 9.8%, and has agreed to vote as a block with Spanish construction firm Sacyr Vallehermoso, a 20% owner. The pair will gain board seats and aim to split the chairman and chief executive officer roles now both held by Antonio Brufau. The Mexican state-owned oil monopoly says it has a shared vision with Sacyr for Repsol, including keeping the company independent and having representation in administrative bodies according to shareholder weight.

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Batista Sees IPOs Proceeding in 2012

Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista expects IPOs to go ahead for three of his companies next year, according to public remarks reported by wire and local news sources. Batista reaffirmed that the trio of listings – each either previously mentioned by Batista or expected to some degree by the markets – should take place next year when he expects market conditions to recover. An IPO for Colombian coal mining operation CCX should raise as much as $5bn. Batista plans to spin off the unit from electric generator MPX, and list shares in Bogota and Sao Paulo. EBX had indicated in March it planned the CCX sale, for a minimum of $1.5bn, and that it would eventually also list in London, a goal the group has for its other units. Less defined are the plans for the listing of gold miner AUX and real-estate company REX. The last Batista company to go public was OSX, raising $2.8bn in March 2010. The shipbuilder’s shares have never traded above a BRL800 offering price, closing at BRL320 Monday. With the Bovespa trading down more than 20% this year, new issuers have had a particularly hard time getting the valuations they seek.

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Chilean Port Plans Rights Offer

Chilean port operator Puerto de Lirquen plans to raise up to $100m through a rights offering to existing shareholders. The measure is to be approved on September 15. The operator of the port near Concepcion controlled by the Matte group does not indicate the use of proceeds. Its shares trade infrequently, and were indicated at CLP600 ($1.29) as of August 22.

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Camil Alimentos Pulls IPO Shelf

Brazilian food products specialist Camil Alimentos has cancelled its IPO shelf. The issuer, best known for its rice and beans, had registered with regulators in February, but never launched or indicated the size of the offering, which was to include primary shares, as well as secondary units sold by members of the controlling Quatiero family. Bradesco, Credit Suisse and Santander had been hired as managers.

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Peru, Colombia Nix Bolsa Merger

The Colombian and Peruvian stock exchanges have canceled plans to merge operations, indicating they need to focus first on improving the trading integration for Mercado Integrado Latinamericano (MILA). MILA, which began in May, created a cross-trading platform for the Chilean, Colombian and Peruvian bolsas, though it has been burdened initially with cross-border tax and regulatory problems. The project was launched amid much fanfare and expectations that it would create the second largest stock exchange in the region, behind Brazil’s Bovespa. But the Colombian and Peruvian exchanges postponed the merger in June after leftist candidate Ollanta Humala clinched the presidency and members of the incoming administration voiced doubts about such plans. The two say discussions could be picked up again in the future.

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Tenaris Moves to Delist Brazil’s Confab

Tenaris plans to delist Brazilian steel pipe maker Confab and make a public share purchase offer that could cost it up to BRL1.24bn ($775m). The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, which is controlled by Argentina’s Techint, is offering minority holders BRL5.20 per ordinary and preferred shares, which it says is a 35% premium to the 20-day average price. It represents a 7.0% premium to Monday’s BRL4.88 closing price. The offer would indicate a BRL1.24bn purchase if all holders accept. Tenaris owns 99% of Confab’s ordinary shares, representing 99% of voting rights and 41% of the share capital. It does not indicate when it expects to launch the offer, which still awaits regulatory approval. Tenaris has held a controlling stake in Confab, which operates under the TenarisConfab brand, since 1999.

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BB to Move for Rest of Banco Patagonia

Banco do Brasil is preparing to launch its tag-along offer to buy additional shares in Argentina’s Banco Patagonia. Between September 1 to September 28, the bank is offering holders $0.98 per share – based on a $1.31 price minus a $0.33 dividend payment – for the 38.4% it does not own. This would mean a $271m purchase with full acceptance, though it will almost certainly be less, as shareholders representing 10.6% committed to retain their stake at the time of the sale last year. Banco Patagonia shares closed Friday at ARP5.03 ($1.20). Banco do Brasil bought 51% of Banco Patagonia for $479.7m, or $1.31 per share, in April 2010.

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Citi, Itau, Lead Bond, Equity Rankings

Citi is leading the regional DCM league tables as August nears its close, heading into what is traditionally the busiest month of the year for new issuance. The US bank booked $9.35bn in volume from 42 transactions year to August 26, according to Dealogic. HSBC comes in second with $8.50bn from 57 deals. Total volume is up this year, at $91.95bn from 224 transactions. That compares to $77.21bn from 166 deals in the same period in 2010. Citi finds itself in third place in terms of fees, at $26m, behind JPMorgan ($29m) and Credit Suisse ($27m). It also tops the loans tables, with $1.92bn from 10 deals, ahead of BBVA’s $1.85bn from 9 transactions. On the equity side, Itau leads the table with $3.16bn in volume from 24 deals, beating fellow Brazilian BTG Pactual’s $2.06bn from 12. The pair also lead the fee ranking for equity, with Itau booking $78m and BTG $60m.

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Equity Funds Continue to Shrink

LatAm equity funds saw $1.76bn in net outflows for the week ending August 24, according to fund data firm EPFR Global. EM equity funds also continue to shrink, with $11.57bn leaving the asset class for the week. Brazil accounted for $853m of outflows and Mexico $35m. EM equity funds lost 1.44% for the week ending August 25, and are down 14.63% ytd, according to Lipper. LatAm funds shed 0.62% for the same period, and are down 16.42% ytd. This contrasts to global small and mid cap funds, which gained 0.22% but have lost 11.91% ytd.

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