Category: Equity

Meantime, the delayed sale of Colombian state-owned gas distributor Empresa Colombiana de Gas (Ecogás) finally got underway yesterday, Monday, with the publication of details of the IPO on offer to Ecogás-affiliated workers and pensioners. The IPO comprises 75 million shares of the newly formed Transportadora de Gas del Interior (TGI) on offer at a price of 10,000 pesos per share. A second tranche of shares will be offered to the public if any remain after the IPO. The sale of Ecogás will bring to an end the involvement of the government in the natural gas industry.

Argentine Nuevo Banco Bisel, under administration by state-run Banco Nación since 2002, is to be put on the block next week. Shares of the Rosario-based bank will be up for sale with the closing date for offers set at March 27. This is the third time Banco Nación has tried to sell Banco Bisel, formerly a subsidiary of French bank Crédit Agricole. The first attempt was in 2003, the second earlier this year. Interested parties include local banks Banco Patagonia, Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe, Banco de Santiago del Estero. Banco Bisel is the country’s 19th largest bank in terms of deposits.

Mexico successfully raised $870 million from its largest IPO in 10 years with the sale last Friday of the government’s 85% stake in Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), the country’s largest airport operator. The Mexican government sold 29 million ADRs priced at $21 each and 124 million B shares in the local market at 22.03 pesos. The share price of ADRs on the first day of trading was up 35%, while the share price in the local market rose 34%. The government could eventually garner up to $1 billion from the sale if underwriters exercise a greenshoe option to sell additional ADRs and B shares within the next 30 days. Air travel is expected to explode this year in Mexico following the entry of two low-cost carriers and the imminent arrival of two more.

Chilean investment company Elesur, controlled by holding company Enersis (in turn part of Endesa), is to float on the Santiago Stock Exchange later this week. Last October, Elesur merged with local electricity distributor Chilectra, also controlled by Enersis, in a move that Enersis says will make savings of around $190 million over the next few years in operational and financial costs.

Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario (Pacific Airport Group) has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the US to launch an IPO of Series B shares. The shares will be issued by existing shareholders in the form of ADS and Series B shares. The underwriters for the issue are Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Santander Investment.

Shares of state-owed Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s largest bank in terms of assets, rose dramatically yesterday, Thursday, on news of a possible sale. The government is thought to be ready to launch a secondary offering of shares imminently as a further step towards listing the bank on Bovespa’s Novo Mercado. The Novo Mercado has higher corporate governance standards than the main market. The bank’s shares closed the day up 5.06%, trading at 59.99 reais.

Steelmaker Ternium, headquartered in Luxembourg, has listed its ADS on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $496 million at a price of $20 per share, 14% above the price expected by the market. Ternium, which was created by Argentine Grupo Techint, is Latin America’s second-largest steelmaker with operations in Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico. The funds raised by the IPO are to be used to pay down debts incurred last year by its acquisition of plant in Mexico. The IPO was led by Citigroup.

Brazilian property developer and construction company Gafisa is to issue 400 million shares via Bovespa’s ‘Novo Mercado’ on 17 February. Of these, 26.7 million will be offered via a primary offering and the balance of 13.3 million via a secondary offering. The shares will be sold to local investors and under the 144A rule to US investors. Foreign investors can buy the shares as GDRs. The sale is being arranged by Merrill Lynch and Banco Itaú.

Brazilian investment bank Pactual may be about to practise what it preaches: the firm that has been active in recent years in advising clients on issuing IPOs, is itself considering an initial public offering to generate cash flow for expansion plans. There has been a renaissance of IPOs in the Brazilian market in recent years. Last year, Pactual led six of the 18 IPOs on the São Paulo exchange. Two months ago talks broke down between Pactual and Goldman Sachs regarding a possible partnership.

Brazil’s annual inflation fell in 2005 to 5.69%, continuing a three-year downward trend. The IPCA consumer price index rose only 7.6% in 2004 after climbing 9.3% in 2003. The slowing inflation figure is another indicator that the central bank may go for a larger interest rate cut next week. However, Brazil’s benchmark lending rate, currently at 18%, continues to be among the world’s highest and the economy contracted by 1.2% in the third quarter of last year compared with the second.