Qualicorp Lands Follow-on

Qualicorp has priced a BRL758.5m ($408m) equity follow-on, according to the CVM, finally giving Brazil its first marketed equity sale of the year. The health insurer is selling 45.97m secondary shares, including a 15% greenshoe, at BRL16.50 each, offering a 1.26% discount to Tuesday’s BRL16.71 closing price. In the selldown, US private equity firm Carlyle was to go from a 39.49% stake to a 26.03% position and founder Jose Seripieri Filho to reduce his share from 27.85% to 26.26%, according to a prospectus. Seripieri had initially wanted to walk away with just 19.85%, though pushback resulted in Qualicorp reducing the size of the deal by lowering the number of shares to be sold by Seripieri. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bradesco, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs managed the transaction, which started off a busy two weeks in the LatAm equity markets. Fleet rental agency Locamerica is up next, with an IPO expected at up to BRL488m Thursday.