Category: Equity

Mexican pharmaceutical company Genomma Lab says it has set aside up to MXP1.07bn in cash for potential acquisitions of medicine brands. The funds were raised during its MXP2.4bn June IPO on Mexico’s Bolsa. The company wants to expand its participation in the personal hygiene and OTC medicines in Mexico. It also expects to see revenues grow up to 22% in 2009, excluding potential acquisitions.

Vicunha Textil, a Bovespa-listed textiles maker, says it will have to provision for a negative derivatives position in the amount of BRL32.6m. The FX derivative contract was signed with Citi’s Brazil-based bank and the company originally said it believed the loss to be around BRL28m, based on numbers through September 30.

Shares of Brazilian computer manufacturer Positivo Informatica jumped to BRL6.16 Monday from the BRL4.75 Friday close, a 29.7% leap, following media reports that Lenovo Group and Dell are interested in acquiring it. A Positivo spokesperson denies the reports, saying that the company has “no knowledge” of such an approach. Local press reported the M&A rumor over the weekend, citing UBS Pactual as a Positivo advisor. Brazil’s Bovespa closed 8.31% firmer at 38,284 Monday amid global equity markets strength.

Colombian state-controlled electricity grid operator Interconexion Electrica has priced COP104.5bn ($46m) in reopened 2026 bonds. The notes paying a coupon of the IPC rate plus 4.58% were discounted through an auction mechanism resulting in a yield of IPC plus 7.1%. The transaction was 1.63x subscribed. Citi, Correval and Bancolombia managed the sale, rated AAA on a national scale.

Bradesco and Brazilian healthcare provider Tempo are the two latest Bovespa members to repurchase sagging shares. Bradesco plans to absorb up to 7.5m preferred shares and up to 7.5m common shares in a program running through May 2009. The bank has a total of 2.04bn shares outstanding, including 551m common and 1.49bn preferred units. Tempo, a healthcare network administrator and claims processor that raised BRL420m in a December 2007 IPO, has meanwhile approved a 1-year program to purchase up to 7.5m shares, or 10% of its float. Bradesco’s common and preferred shares closed Monday at BRL20.19 and BRL23.47, respectively. Tempo finished at BRL2.50.

Panama’s BG Financial Group is planning to sell $250m in perpetual bonds to finance growth plans, according to a Dow Jones report, which cites a filing with the Panamanian Stock Exchange. The group’s banking subsidiary Banco General will issue the bonds on the local exchange this week, the report states. Proceeds will be used to fund the bank’s commercial, mortgage and consumer lending businesses in Panama and abroad, it adds.

Azul Azul, owner of Chilean professional soccer club Universidad de Chile, has raised CLP9.5bn ($14.7m) in Chile’s first IPO in more than a year and Latin America’s first since June. It placed 19.8m shares at CLP480 each, representing 54.5% of the holding company. The IPO was a condition of Azul Azul’s concession to run the club, and will help fund a new training center. Rival Colo-Colo’s Blanco y Negro holding company has traded publicly since 2005. Santiago’s last IPO was the real-estate developer Socovesa’s raising of CLP80.806trn in October 2007, according to Dealogic. Larrain Vial, Euroamerica and Banco Estado managed the Azul Azul sale.

London-based broker ICAP is acquiring Arkhe DTVM, a Sao Paulo-based BM&FBovespa broker, for $17m, or 6x the target’s post tax 2007 earnings. “ICAP’s strategy in Latin America is to . . . establish a strong base in Brazil alongside our existing operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico,” Doug Rhoten, CEO of ICAP Americas tells LatinFinance. “Our aim is to [cover] the financial, equity, and commodities markets and to deploy [our] technology throughout the region,” he adds. Brazilian brokers have been the object of much interest from foreign trading shops seeking to establish a presence in LatAm’s largest equity and derivatives market. Brokers who were members of the exchanges before their demutualization are looking to cash out by selling to foreigners. They have additional incentive to do so before an inevitable wave of technological innovation renders their businesses and assets obsolete and worth much less than they are today. In August, UK-based BGC Partners bought Liquidez DTVM for an undisclosed amount. Earlier this year, Citi bought Intra, Bradesco bought Agora and Colombia’s InterBolsa took a majority stake in Finabank. Elsewhere in LatAm, ICAP recently set up an electronic trading joint venture with Cabei.

Quattor Participacoes, the holding company for Bovespa listed petrochemicals producers Petroquimica Uniao, Unipar and Quattor Petroquimica, is taking the companies private. The controlling shareholder in the units says it is offering to purchase the shares of each company it doesn’t already own. Unipar preferred shares have fallen 62% since hitting a 2008 high in mid June of BRL2.98. Quattor does not specify reasons for going private and officials weren’t immediately available for comment.