Category: Equity

Brazilian health-care provider Amil Participações plans to raise as much as BRL1.6bn through the sale of 87m shares in IPO, it said in a filing. It expects the shares to price at BRL13.5-BRL18.5. Credit Suisse and UBS Pactual are joint bookrunners, with Santander as a co-manager.

Shares of Banco Patagonia Thursday gained 4.33% to 3.85 Argentine pesos on the Buenos Aires stock exchange amid speculation that the company is a takeover target, according to Dow Jones. Brazil’s Banco Itau was allegedly interested in buying the bank, the newswire reported, citing TPGC, a broker in Buenos Aires. Patagonia went public in July.

Nearly six months after an IPO, Brazilian developer BR Malls is planning a secondary offering of 20m shares, it said in a filing. At current share price of around BRL22, the October 19 sale would bring proceeds of BRL440m. UBS Pactual, Itaú and Citi will lead the transaction. The announcement comes after American investor Sam Zell, who holds 19% of BR Malls, said he plans to invest another BRL75m in the company.

Grupo Clarin’s planned IPO will raise $450m-$560m to retire debt at one of its subsidiaries and fund possible acquisitions of complimentary businesses, it said in a statement. The Argentine media company plans to sell 50m shares, a 17.5% stake, at ARS28-ARS35 October 19 in London and Buenos Aires. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are the global coordinators and bookrunners, with JPMorgan as international lead manager and Merrill Lynch and Itaú as international co-managers.

Brazilian clothing retailer Marisa plans to raise up to BRL739m in an IPO, it said in a stock market filing. The company will float 44m voting shares at BRL10-BRL14, with existing shareholders offering 8.8m units at the same price. Credit Suisse will lead the offering, with UBS Pactual, HSBC and Banco Safra as co-managers.

Argentine media company Grupo Clarín plans to raise between $450m-$560m by selling a 17.5% stake through an IPO in Buenos Aires and London, according to wire reports citing a presentation to the Buenos Aires stock exchange. The publisher of the Clarin newspaper plans to sell 50m shares at between ARS28-ARS35, pricing on Oct.19. Holders will offer 35m shares, including Goldman Sachs, which is reduce its stake to 10% from 18%. Proceeds are expected be used to fund Clarin’s investments in new technology and regional expansion. The offering is being led by JPMorgan and Credit Suisse.

ING Group’s Sul América, an insurance company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, priced its IPO at BRL31, at the low end of the BRL30-BRL40 range, to raise BRL675.8m, or $370m. Bankers close to the deal say the IPO market is proving to be more challenging than some months ago, and investors are demanding a larger discount on new offers. The book was two times oversubscribed, says a banker on the deal. UBS Pactual and Unibanco led the deal, with Banco do Brasil and HSBC as co-leads

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.