Batista Sees IPOs Proceeding in 2012

Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista expects IPOs to go ahead for three of his companies next year, according to public remarks reported by wire and local news sources. Batista reaffirmed that the trio of listings – each either previously mentioned by Batista or expected to some degree by the markets – should take place next year when he expects market conditions to recover. An IPO for Colombian coal mining operation CCX should raise as much as $5bn. Batista plans to spin off the unit from electric generator MPX, and list shares in Bogota and Sao Paulo. EBX had indicated in March it planned the CCX sale, for a minimum of $1.5bn, and that it would eventually also list in London, a goal the group has for its other units. Less defined are the plans for the listing of gold miner AUX and real-estate company REX. The last Batista company to go public was OSX, raising $2.8bn in March 2010. The shipbuilder’s shares have never traded above a BRL800 offering price, closing at BRL320 Monday. With the Bovespa trading down more than 20% this year, new issuers have had a particularly hard time getting the valuations they seek.