Argentina’s Emdersa Slashes IPO

Argentine power distributor Emdersa pushed its IPO through hostile market conditions Wednesday, but it was forced to settle for just $60m, around 30% of the amount originally targeted. Moreover, the selling shareholders, a number of equity funds that had bought into the company over the past few years, had to sit out the offering. Emdersa sold 55m primary shares at ARP3.45 per share, according to an executive close to the process. In the last week of November, Emdersa said it was targeting an offering of 156m shares, of which 62m were secondary shares, at a midpoint of ARP4.05, which would have resulted in a $200m raise. Instead it raised only $60m by selling new shares only. Shareholders GPU Argentina Holdings, JPMorgan Overseas Capital, Whitewater EMCO & EMCF, and D.E. Shaw Laminar Emerging Markets will have to wait for a better opportunity to sell down their stakes. Emdersa is controlled by a unit of JPMorgan, which managed the sale along with Merrill Lynch.