Category: Equity

Puerto Rico’s Triple-S Management has priced a smaller than expected $200m IPO through Credit Suisse and UBS. The deal involved 14m shares of its Class B common stock, 5m of which was offered by Triple-S and 9m from selling stockholders, at a price of $14.50. Total net proceeds to Triple-S will be approximately $63.7m, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. It will not receive any proceeds from the sale from selling stockholders. According to Dealogic, a size of $238m was being targeted. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.1m shares of Class B common stock, 286,809 from Triple-S and 1.8m from selling stockholders. CIBC, Citi, Popular and Santander were co-managers. Triple-S Management Corporation is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Banco de Credito, a Bogota-based bank and financial institution, raised $113m equivalent in an IPO priced Wednesday and finalized Thursday. Demand for the shares was heard at over 2x, with locals making up the entire book. “It’s a new company in the financial sector in Colombia, which gives investors an opportunity to diversify their holdings,” says Juan Nicolas Pardo Ayala, an analyst at local brokerage Valores Bancolombia. The company 565m shares Wednesday and 28m Thursday at COP407 apiece, leaving it with roughly one third of the float in public hands. Helms Securities, the Florida based parent of the company, led the deal.

Argentine power distributor Emdersa pushed its IPO through hostile market conditions Wednesday, but it was forced to settle for just $60m, around 30% of the amount originally targeted. Moreover, the selling shareholders, a number of equity funds that had bought into the company over the past few years, had to sit out the offering. Emdersa sold 55m primary shares at ARP3.45 per share, according to an executive close to the process. In the last week of November, Emdersa said it was targeting an offering of 156m shares, of which 62m were secondary shares, at a midpoint of ARP4.05, which would have resulted in a $200m raise. Instead it raised only $60m by selling new shares only. Shareholders GPU Argentina Holdings, JPMorgan Overseas Capital, Whitewater EMCO & EMCF, and D.E. Shaw Laminar Emerging Markets will have to wait for a better opportunity to sell down their stakes. Emdersa is controlled by a unit of JPMorgan, which managed the sale along with Merrill Lynch.

Shares of BM&F, Brazil’s mercantile and futures exchange, jumped 22% to BRL24.40 in the first day of trade. The surge was small compared to the first day for the Bovespa, which popped 52%. The BM&F’s underwriters claim there was a deliberate strategy to avoid such a leap by distributing the stock more broadly and jacking up the price range a day before books closed. With the green shoe, the company will have raised $3.3bn in the year’s second largest IPO, second only to the Bovespa’s $3.7bn. Ecopetrol’s $2.8bn deal and Redecard’s $2.4bn were the region’s two other largest deals this year. Leading the BM&F were JPMorgan, BBI, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Itau BBA, Deutsche Bank and Citi.

Emdersa, an Argentine power distribution company, will look to price an IPO today in Buenos Aires, Luxembourg and New York, but it is facing an increasingly discerning investor base, which may diminish the valuation. Late last week, the company said it wanted to price155.6m ordinary class B shares at ARS3.70-ARS4.40 and global depository shares at $11.75-$13.97. Wary of skewed economic data and heavy-handed government intervention in the economy, investors have punished Argentine assets harder than most other LatAm countries. In addition, the deal, which is relatively small in size, includes secondary share sales by private equity investors such as JPMorgan Overseas Capital, GPU Argentina Holdings, Whitewater EMCO and EMCF, and D.E. Shaw Laminar Emerging Markets. JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch are leading the offer.

Brazil’s commodities and futures exchange, the BM&F, followed in the footsteps of the Bovespa Tuesday with a blowout IPO, which was heard more than 10x oversubscribed. The deal came at BRL20.00, at the top of a revised BRL18.00-BRL20.00 range, and a 23% upwards revision from the initial BRL14.50-BRL16.50 band. At that price, the BM&F will raise $3.3bn assuming the over allotment option is exercised, which is substantially higher than the $2.6bn it would have raised at the midpoint of its initial range. BM&F is expected to announce the final pricing on the sale of 299m shares today Bankers familiar with the deal say investor price sensitivity was very low, even after the increased range, which suggests the shares could see an aftermarket pop. The Bovespa, which went public last month in a similarly sized offering, saw its shares surge as much as 50% in the first day of trading, something the BM&F would like to avoid, say bankers. Lead managers include Morgan Stanley, BBI, Merrill Lynch, Itau BBA, Deutsche Bank and Citi, according to Dealogic. The deal comes in stark contrast to the recent failures of less liquid Brazilian equity issuers.

Shares of Ecopetrol, the Colombian oil producer, began trading locally Tuesday, but few actually changed hands. Strong demand for the paper fuelled big jumps in the stock price which triggered safety mechanisms in the bolsa that halted trading twice, the second time for good. Shares began trading at 9:00am at COP1,400 but were immediately bid up to the 10% threshold of COP1,540, which prompted the first shutdown. After half an hour, trading resumed and shares leapt another 10% to COP1,694, which triggered a second shutdown, thereby halting trading for the rest of the day. Ecopetrol is set to open today’s session at COP1,694, up 20% from IPO. Local brokers tell LatinFinance it is likely they will reach COP1,863 and get shut down again. Valores Bancolombia launched its coverage of Ecopetrol yesterday with a 2008 year-end estimate of COP2,390. The company debuted in September locally to great acclaim, generating orders over $3bn, more than double original estimates.

Guatemala’s Banco Industrial is heard to be preparing an IPO in Mexico, marking a first for a Central American issuer and a possible return to relevance for the Mexican bourse. Industrial has been a regional consolidator, most recently acquiring Banco Quetzal for $3.92bn in August. The bank has the broadest geographic and demographic coverage in Guatemala, and is seeking out acquisitions beyond its borders, Luis Prado, vp and international division manager, told LatinFinance earlier this month. Credit Suisse is rumored to have the IPO mandate.