Batista Shipping Unit Edges to Float

OSX, the Brazilian offshore shipping company being formed by Eike Batista, is a step closer to going public. The company filed its charter with the CVM late Friday detailing rules surrounding capital and governance structure. It says it has been authorized by the board to raise equity capital of up to BRL10bn through the placement of ordinary shares. It does not state whether this would be done on the public market or with private investors. However, OSX has been widely cited as one of the main candidates for an IPO in 2010. In its charter, OSX says its goal is to be involved in shipbuilding as well as providing equipment and services for offshore oil and gas. Among the first steps for the company is to build a shipyard in the port of Biguacu, in the state of Santa Catarina, where OSX has already acquired most of the necessary development rights. The facility is expected to command an investment of $500m-$600m. The goal is to produce standardized vessels for exploration of Brazil’s offshore fields and lease them to Batista’s oil and gas company OSX, as well as to Petrobras and others in Brazil. Batista says much of the financing for the shipyard itself may come from the BNDES, due to alignment with Brazil’s plan to develop its natural resources. He also notes talks with Singaporean and Korean builders to have them build and develop the facility in exchange for a minority investment in the company. Batista’s recent focus on OSX has drawn attention away from an earlier plan of his to take public EBX, the holding company for all of his infrastructure companies, say executives close to Batista. The executive originally planned to raise up to $10bn on the stock market to capitalize the holding company and reduce subsidiaries’ reliance on the whims of the capital markets. As market conditions deteriorated, the plan became to raise a similar amount of cash via a giant infrastructure private equity fund. That idea seemed to fall on deaf ears with potential investors and sov