Global private equity firm Advent International agreed to sell its remaining 10% stake in Brazilian private asset clearinghouse Cetip for approximately $512m to IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). ICE will acquire 31.6m shares of Cetip common stock for BRL25.50 per common share, including 6.4m shares held or controlled by Brazilian bank Itau. The transaction will make ICE the largest shareholder in Cetip. The transaction consideration includes $302m from ICE’s cash on hand and $210m drawn from ICE’s existing revolving credit facilities. Advent had taken a 32% stake in the company in 2009, prior to its IPO in October of that year. Cetip generated BRL557m in revenues in 2010 and BRL376m in Ebitda. Goldman Sachs and Broadhaven Capital Partners advised ICE on the transaction.
Category: Equity
Chile Grabs $564m from Water Equity Sale
The Chilean government’s Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion (Corfo) has raised CLP260.64trn ($564m) from the sale of nearly all of its positions in water utilities Essbio and Essval. In a public follow-on, Corfo sold 3.655trn shares of Esval at CLP0.03 each and 10.17bn Essbio shares at CLP15.18 each, matching the floor prices set earlier last week. It offloaded 24.4% of Esval and 38.4% of Essbio, as the Chilean government proceeds with an asset sale plan to help with budgetary needs created by last year’s earthquake. Last month, for instance, the government sold $879m of Aguas Andinas. Corfo is set to keep a 5.0% position in each of Esval and Essbio, both of which are controlled by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Banchile, BAML and IM Trust managed the transaction, the same trio that handled Aguas Andinas. The offering also gives much more liquidity to each company – previously Essbio had a 5.4% free float and Esval less than 1%. Esval shares closed Friday at CLP0.03 Friday and Essbio at CLP15.18. Esval is the second-largest water utility in Chile, and Essbio the third-largest, both providing service in the central part of the country.
LatAm Equity Sees Outflows
LatAm equity funds saw $128m in outflows for the week ending July 13, according to EPFR Global. EM equity funds, meanwhile, had $878m in inflows for the week. Performance was negative, with EM funds falling 2.94% for the week ending July 14 and 1.44% ytd, according to Lipper. LatAm funds also dropped 4.19% for the week, and remain negative 5.96% ytd. Global small and mid-cap funds also slipped 3.11% for the week, but remain up 2.90% ytd.
Nutresa Wraps Up FO
Colombia’s Nutresa has finalized the allocation for its COP522.5bn ($299m) equity follow-on, getting a total demand of COP9.21trn, or 17.6x. Final book size tops the food products company’s previous COP8.98trn estimate that had come at the end of its subscription period. Existing holders exercising their preferential rights claimed COP256.47 of the sale, going to 3,044 buyers. New investors accounted for COP266.03bn, from 20, 407 buyers, including COP186.22bn from the general public and COP79.81bn from institutions. Nutresa had set a COP20,900 per share price for the 25m shares at the beginning of the offering period. The issuer, formerly known as Grupo Nacional de Chocolates, is raising funds for expansion and to increase its liquidity. Bolsa y Renta managed the sale. Nutresa stock closed at COP21,700 Friday. The transaction is expected to be the last before a follow-on from state oil behemoth Ecopetrol. Investors are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the size and share price of the deal – expected to raise at least $800m equivalent – on or before the start of its sale period July 27.
Acon Buys Grupo Sala in Colombia
US PE firm Acon Investments has acquired an 81% stake in Grupo Sala from Spanish waste company Urbaser through its $250m Acon Latin America Opportunities fund (ALAOF) for an undisclosed amount. Sala has 650,000 municipal waste management customers throughout Colombia and turnover of approximately $80m, Acon partner Jose Miguel Knoell tells LatinFinance. Acon is also injecting additional capital to help grow Sala’s medical and industrial waste business unit, he says. Acon plans to build the business through organic growth and potential bolt-on acquisitions in both the domestic and adjacent markets, potentially including various Colombian water utilities. A sale to a strategic buyer is the most likely exit option for the firm as several pan-regional waste management firms in Brazil and Mexico are looking to grow. There is also potential interest from US and European specialized waste management companies. No advisors were retained on the deal. Approximately 40% of Acon’s $2bn in AUM is in LatAm.
Banregio IPO Lands At Low-End
BanRegio has priced a MXP2.09bn ($178m) IPO, landing near the bottom of its pricing range. The deal marks Mexico’s second IPO of 2011 following a MXP3.89bn Aeromexico sale in April. The bank, which focuses on lending to small and medium-sized businesses, priced 65.1m shares at MXP32 each, including a 15% greenshoe, versus the MXP31.50-MXP40.00 range it had been marketing. Demand was heard at 2.4x. Half of the buyers were expected to be Mexican retail investors, with the rest comprising Mexican and international institutions. The deal included a secondary sale of 18.9m shares from controlling shareholders. Despite a tough environment for LatAm IPOs this year, participating investors liked the bank’s focus and its expansion strategy, which includes plans to enter 8 more states in the center and south of the country. The transaction represents a 19.6% stake in BanRegio, which had MXP53.5bn in total assets at year-end 2010, up 12.3% from 2009. Corporate loans constitute 80% of its MXP24bn loan portfolio. Founded in Monterrey in 1949 by Manuel Santos Gonzalez as Banco Regional del Norte, the lender is present in 13 Mexican states in the north and center of the country. Banamex and BBVA Bancomer acted as leads.
Chile Set for Water Sale
Chile’s Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion (Corfo) is scheduled to auction and price today shares in water utilities Essbio and Essval, a follow-on transaction that could raise as much as $1bn equivalent. Following the $979m sale last month of nearly all of its stake in water utility Aguas Andinas, the government entity is now ready to offload 24.4% of Esval and 38.4% of Essbio, as the Chilean government proceeds with an asset sale plan to help with budgetary needs created by last year’s earthquake. Corfo plans to sell 3.65trn of Esval shares and 10.2bn of Essbio shares. With the respective floor prices set at CLP0.03 and CLP15.18, the total sale would raise a minimum CLP264.3bn ($571.3m). However, the relative illiquidity of the two companies’ shares – Essbio has a 5.4% free float and Esval less than 1% – makes estimating the final price and size difficult. In fact, bankers expect a deal under $1bn equivalent. Corfo is set to keep a 5.0% position in each company, both of which are controlled by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Banchile, BAML and IM Trust are leads, the same trio that handled Aguas Andinas.
Minerva, Launches Converts, Plans Warrant Tender
Brazilian meatpacker Minerva plans to sell its BRL300m ($190m) 2015 convertible debentures at between 97.00 and 103.00 of face value on July 26 and will tender for outstanding stock warrants thereafter. The deal is being called the Brazilian market’s first-ever public sale of mandatorily-convertible debentures, The issuer elected to price the bonds at the premium or discount, as regulators only wanted investors bidding on one value during the sale process, according to a company official. The issuer had originally planned to negotiate the interest rate, now set at 100% of DI, as well as the minimum and maximum conversion prices, now set at BRL6.00 and BRL8.00, respectively. Shares closed at BRL5.24 Wednesday. Proceeds from the sale are marked for repaying existing debt, and for working capital. Minerva is rated BBB minus on a national scale. Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Banco do Brasil are leads. Separately, following the convertible bond sale Minerva says it plans to launch a tender for some BRL150m notional value in stock warrants issued as part of a 2009 capital raise.
Ecopetrol Preps for Share Sale Period
State-controlled Colombian oil company Ecopetrol is set to offer shares in its long-awaited equity follow-on beginning July 27. The details about the pricing and size of the local transaction are to be announced at or before the beginning of the order period, scheduled for July27-August 17. The biggest question is the size of the deal after the government changed its plans several times over the past year or so. The state-controlled oil company is able to sell up to 9.9%, though the expectation is for much less, perhaps as little as 1.0%. A 1% stake would still create a COP1.48trn ($838m) deal, at Wednesday’s COP3,650 close. Local bankers expect 2%-4%. Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Bancolombia are expected to manage the sale after being mandated as bookrunners on Ecopetrol’s previous transaction.
Investors Put Cash in Unidas
Brazilian rental car provider Unidas has raised BRL300m ($188m) from existing and new shareholders in a private transaction. It sold the 134.8m new shares at BRL2.23 each. The participants included controller SAG of Portugal, as well as private equity funds Kinea Investimentos, Vinci Capital and Gavea Investimentos.