Brazil’s Direcional Files IPO

Direcional Engenharia, a Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based construction firm, has filed a Brazil IPO. The company builds and sells residential properties in the states of Rio, São Paulo, Amazonas, Brasília and Minas Gerais. If it goes public, it will join a very crowded pool of publicly traded real estate developers, though its geographic diversification away from São Paulo may give it some advantage. ABN AMRO Banco Real is leading the offering, one of the more unusual aspects of the transaction as the Dutch Bank has to date played a small role in the Brazil equity party.