Brazil Mogul Builds Real Estate IPO

REX, the budding real estate company owned by Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur Eike Batista, could go public as early as next year, the executive tells LatinFinance. “We want to build a whole city,” says Batista, metaphorically referring to the large number of urban developments the company is targeting. One of the main sites for REX’s residential properties is in and around major infrastructure assets Batista’s various other companies are in the process of building. That presumably includes major power generation utilities belonging to MPX, as well as mines and logistics assets that are part of MMX, though Batista did not specify locations for REX’s potential developments. REX, along with Brazilian Forests (BFX), is among greenfield entities controlled by Batista’s holding company EBX that have yet to tap public markets. OGX, the oil and gas producer, is set for its up to $3.85bn IPO June 11, while MPX and MMX went public in December 2007 and mid-2006 respectively. The executive says he’d like to have five of those companies in the public domain, and that he may consider an IPO for holding company, EBX, once operating units grow to a market cap of $40bn. (For an exclusive interview with Batista, see the June issue of LatinFinance at www.latinfinance.com).