MRV to Price Follow-On Today

Brazilian low income homebuilder MRV will price its follow-on of 22.5m shares today after the close. An additional 7.9m shares could also be issued over the coming days if market conditions permit. On the eve of pricing, MRV executives and their bankers at UBS Pactual, Credit Suisse and Santander were busily wrapping up roadshow presentations in Europe and the US. The deal is the first offering in what will be a busy week for LatAm equity investors. VistaNet is scheduled to price its jumbo IPO on Thursday in a deal that could raise BRL7.75bn-BRL9.70bn. While a flurry of other statements of intentions to issue have been filed with the CVM, it is not a given that other hopefuls like Natura and Hypermarcas will push ahead with their respective offerings. Gafisa has already said it has decided to postpone its planned offering because of the poor performance of its shares following its announcement of plans to issue up to BRL700m. And a bad start to the week on Monday with the Bovespa falling 3.6% doesn’t help, either. MRV shares, however, may be benefitting from a couple weeks of active dialogue with investors. Its shares resisted the broader market’s declines and closed up 0.8% Monday.