Bovespa IPO Shines (1)

On the flip side, and as predicted, Bovespa Holding’s IPO was a roaring success. The exchange priced 250m shares at BRL23.00, at the top of an upwardly revised range of BRL20.00-BRL23.00, as investors clamored for a chance to participate in the region’s biggest and most high profile deal of the year. The offer raised BRL5.76bn, making it the biggest of 2007 so far. “It’s an interesting deal because its profit is tied to the country’s economic growth, which is fueling activity on the exchange,” Ronaldo Patah, head of Unibanco Asset Management’s equities division, tells LatinFinance. “The more trades and the higher the index, the better it will be for [the Bovespa’s] profits.” Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse had joint books, UBS was lead manager for the international portion, and Itaú BBA and Bradesco BBI were co-leads.