Category: Equity

Following the acquisition of RBTT, RBC will explore the possibility of issuing depositary receipts backed by RBC common shares on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange. “Making depositary receipts available in Trinidad and Tobago would further demonstrate our commitment to the region while giving local investors a chance to invest in the growth of one of the best performing financial services companies in the world,” says Peter Armenio, RBC’s head of US & International Banking. RBTT is RBC’s second international acquisition in the past month and the ninth acquisition RBC has announced outside Canada in the past 12 months.

ING Group’s Sul América, an insurance company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, is scheduled to price its IPO on the Bovespa this Wednesday, according to Dealogic, via the placement of depositary units on the exchange. The units, to be offered at BRL30-BRL40 each, are composed of one ordinary share and two preferential shares. Unibanco and UBS Pactual are leading, with Banco do Brasil and HSBC as co-leads. Fitch has upped the rating on Sul América, the holding company controlling the Sul America Seguros insurance group activities, to BB minus (stable) from B+ because of firm operational performance. The strength is due mainly to improved underwriting and pricing policies adopted since 2004 on the main segments of its portfolio, especially health and automobiles, accounting for 54% and 27% respectively of the consolidated premiums at H107, says Fitch.

Stanley Rowe has joined Lehman Brothers as a managing director and head of LatAm Equities, based in New York. Rowe will be responsible for developing and executing the ECM division’s growth strategy throughout LatAm, reporting to Gerald Donini, head of Americas equities, and Mohammed Grimeh, global head of EM. “He will work closely with the firm’s existing sales, trading and research for the Americas and emerging markets to build out the firm’s Latin America franchise,” says Lehman, which is trying to increase its footprint in EM. In addition to existing offices in Mexico and Argentina, the shop recently opened an office in Brazil, where it acquired the investment banking team of Rio Bravo. Prior to Lehman, Rowe spent more than 10 years at Deutsche Bank where he was most recently the regional head of LatAm Equities. He has also held several senior roles at Deutsche, including head of US Structured Products trading and Americas EM equities trading. Lehman’s ECM platform reported net revenues of $4.4bn in the first nine months of fiscal 2007.

Brazilian real estate company Construtora Tenda plans to raise as much as BRL804m through a Bovespa IPO. The 67m shares are expected to begin trading October 15 at between BRL9 and BRL12. Banco Itaú and Credit Suisse will lead, with HSBC and Banco Modal as co-managers.

Infrastructure companies will send Brazil IPO volume to a record level in 2008, Pedro Guimarães, a director at UBS Pactual in Brazil, tells LatinFinance. “These are companies whose revenues equal billions of dollars,” Guimarães says. “Each infrastructure IPO will equal that of 20 smaller companies,” he adds. Firms in sectors such as oil, petrochemicals, construction, heavy transportation and electric energy needing long-term funding will be responsible for surging IPO levels next year, he remarks. Large construction names in Brazil include Odebrecht and Camago Correa. Guimarães adds: “To make up for all this demand for infrastructure from the government and private companies, constructors will have to tap the equity or debt markets. That’s for sure.” Primary and secondary stock offerings in Brazil have totaled BRL40.73bn thus far in 2007, up from BRL26.98bn in the whole of 2006, according to CVM. Another trend due in Brazil is additional offerings from companies whose IPOs took place in 2006 and 2007, as they seek to grow and buy other firms.

Chilean construction firm Socovesa is hitting the road Friday for the local leg of its $150m IPO through IM Trust. Deutsche Bank has been hired for the international portion of the IPO, which aims to sell 25% of the company overall. The amounts placed in each will be determined by demand and it should price in the next three weeks, IM Trust executive director Guillermo Tagle tells LatinFinance. The shop is also lining up a $64m local rights offering of 1.79m shares at CLP18,500 each for Clinica Las Condes, which should come by the end of November. Also coming to market later this year is AquaChile, a salmon producer, heard to be preparing a local and international offering of up to $250m.

Colombia’s state-owned Ecopetrol has received orders for more than $3bn equivalent in pesos during the local round of its IPO, far surpassing estimates made in August by bankers and local brokers. Forecasts were for local demand to hit $1bn maximum. As of Tuesday afternoon, at least COP6trn worth of orders had been submitted, from 320,000 investors. At that level, the domestic issue would consume the minimum 10% of the $25bn company that was initially being offered. “People have sold other stocks to buy Ecopetrol,” Ricardo Duran, head of research at Corredores Associados, a local brokerage, tells LatinFinance. “The expectation is that Ecopetrol will find more oil in the future,” he adds. Vision de Valores, another local brokerage, has a year-end target of COP17,000 which represents a 20% rise over the COP14,000 offer price. Bancolombia is leading the operation, though shares are being sold at all of the major brokerages and even at supermarkets around the country. The book was set to close overnight.

Brazil’s Banco Industrial e Comercial plans to raise BRL683-BRL900m through a Bovespa IPO. The 62.12m share issue is expected to begin trading October 15, at BRL11-BRL14.50 per share. UBS Pactual will lead, with Bradesco, Banco Fator and HSBC as joint leads. The mid-sized private bank would become the 10th Brazilian financial institution to sell shares so far this year. Proceeds will be used to finance domestic credit portfolios, add to cash reserves and expand Bicbanco’s retail capacity.

Brazilian lumber provider Satipel Industrial has priced a BRL398m IPO, the country’s first since July, at BRL13.00, the low end of a BRL13-17 range given in the initial filing. Leads Credit Suisse, UBS Pactual, and Unibanco earned fees of 3%, totaling BRL12m. Co-manager was Banco Safra.

Goldman Sachs is expected to take a lead role in the upcoming IPO of the Bovespa, Brazil’s stock exchange. It will have joint books with Credit Suisse, according to a banker away from the deal. Goldman is ramping up in Brazil and previously had joint books on Banco Daycoval, as well as Cosan, which was widely criticized. A Goldman spokesman declined to comment on the Bovespa mandate.