Category: Equity

Brazilian real-estate company Global 4 Empreendimentos Turisticos has registered to IPO on the Bovespa’s Novo Mercado. Global specializes in the development of tourism-related real estate projects, including hotels and vacation home communities, in Brazil’s North East. The Bahia-based company did not disclose a timetable or any details of the operation. Proceeds will be used for construction, land acquisition and working capital. UBS is managing the sale.

Meltdown in European and Asian stocks beat up Mexican and Brazilian bourses Monday, but there may be worse to come. The Bovespa closed 6.6% weaker at 53,709 and the Mexican bolsa finished 5.35% softer at 25,285. The losses were driven by fears of US weakness, which is set to become more pronounced, according to analysis by BCP. “Unfortunately, we are in the early stages of the credit crisis,” says BCP. “Problems with the monoline insurers are now threatening the much larger municipal market,” it adds. A downgrade of AMBAC, and most likely MBIA, will heavily curtail many munis from gaining access to cheap credit, according to BCP. It adds that there are growing concerns about the future of the CDS market. “Serious problems lie on the horizon,” says BCP. “The credit contraction will take a long time to fully manifest itself, with the brunt of the pain to occur in 2009 – rather than in 2008,” it adds.

Norse Energy do Brasil plans to raise between BRL368m-BRL460m with its initial public offering on the Brazilian Stock Exchange. The oil and gas exploration and production company, an arm of Norway’s Norse Energy, plans to sell 23m common shares at a range of BRL16- BRL20 per share. Trading is expected to begin February 1, after the pricing and allocation period January 24-29. Norse said it would increase the offer up to 15% if there is sufficient demand. UBS Pactual is bookrunner and Tristone Capital, Unibanco and Bulltick are co-managers.

Investors with stakes in Santelisa Vale, Brazil’s second largest sugar and ethanol company, and that company’s executives, are plotting up to three IPOs for some of their holdings, people close to Santelisa tell LatinFinance. First up is likely to be an offering from the company formed by a merger between Renk Zanini and Cermatec, two agricultural equipment makers held by Santelisa Vale. Bradesco BBI and JPMorgan are heard to have bagged that mandate. Another possible IPO is for Santelisa Vale itself, today a 14,000 employee firm whose crushing capacity is second only to Cosan in Brazil. Third is another sugar and ethanol startup called CNAA, which, in addition to Santelisa, which holds a 28% stake, counts as its investors Carlyle Riverstone, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Global Foods and Discovery Capital. Timing and mandates for the last two offerings are still far from being decided.

Bancolombia said Wednesday that it increased its stake in Banagricola to 98.90% by purchasing 9.59% of the Panamanian bank’s shares for $87.7m on the Panama Stock Exchange. Bancolombia paid $48.45 a share for the stake.

Cyrela Brazil Realty has filed to sell additional shares on the Bovespa, without indicating an amount or date. Credit Suisse will manage the sale. The developer also plans to sell BRL370m in 2018 debentures January 5 at a proposed rate of DI plus 65bp, to raise funds for expansion. S&P gave an AA- local rating to the deal to be led by Itau. Cyrela attempted to sell BRL500m in 10-year bonds internationally in June, but pulled the deal due to the liquidity crunch.

Brazilian healthcare company Tempo Participaçoes closed out this year’s LatAm equity season with a whimper, pricing its IPO at BRL7.00, well below the original midpoint of BRL9.25. The company sold 56.3m shares to raise BRL394m, 25% less than the BRL520m it might have raised at the original midpoint target. The underwriters have the option to buy an additional 8.4m shares which, if exercised, could raise the company another BRL59m. The pushback from investors on the valuation came as no surprise given how the past several IPOs of similar size have performed in Brazil. Investors have been wary of illiquid names and have demanded better pricing to compensate for the risk of holding a low-volume stock. UBS Pactual and Unibanco led the offering, with Santander and Agora Senior as co-managers. Tempo priced Monday.

IT investment company Ideiasnet has filed for additional shares on the Bovespa, without disclosing how much it expects to sell. The Rio de Janeiro-based company has 84m shares outstanding. It closed Monday at BRL7.50. Belo Horizonte-based Banco Bonsucesso has also filed for an IPO, without giving an amount. JPMorgan, an increasingly active participant in this market, will serve as bookrunner on both sales.

Brazilian power generation giant MPX priced its IPO Wednesday at BRL1,006.63, just below the midpoint of its BRL935.00-BRL1,111.00, raising BRL1.92bn. If the underwriters exercise the greenshoe, a likely outcome, the company will have raised BRL2.2bn in the offering – a grand start for a company with a track record of less than three years. The shares were placed with institutional investors only, and the book, which was heard over 2x oversubscribed, included a number of large US institutions that made up 60% of the buyer base. UBS Pactual, Merrill Lynch, Itau BBA and Santander joint-led the offering.

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.