Reuters: Deals: Brazil's Unicasa to raise up to $402 million in IPO

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Brazil's Unicasa to raise up to $402 million in IPO Apr 4th 2012, 13:10 SAO PAULO | Wed Apr 4, 2012 9:10am EDT SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian furniture maker Unicasa and shareholders plan to raise up to 732 million reais ($402 million) in an initial public offering, as companies in Latin America's largest economy defy a recent wave of risk aversion to lure new investors. The company, based in the southern city of Bento Gonçalves, Brazil, plans to offer 9.14 million common shares in a primary offering at 16.50 reais to 20.50 reais each, according to a prospectus published on Wednesday. A primary offering usually helps companies attract money that they use for their projects. Shareholders, including shoemaking tycoon Alexandre Grendene and members of the Zietolie and Schenatto families, plan to divest up to 17.30 million common shares in a secondary offering -- usually the mechanism by which shareholders cash in on their investment. Banks and shareholders can increase the offering by as many as 9.25 million shares, according to the prospectus. Unicasa's IPO announcement comes at a time when companies are filing to sell new equity on hopes risk aversion may ease. Earlier this year, attempts by three companies in the tourism and infrastructure industries foiled their offerings after failing to lure investors. Local equity markets have not seen a new listing since July. The failure of those offerings signaled that investors, who last year steered clear of those deals as Europe's debt crisis worsened, will keep shunning companies with great ambitions but an insufficient track record, poor earnings visibility or that could be vulnerable to a downturn. On Tuesday, investment banking powerhouse BTG Pactual BTG.UL announced plans to raise up to 4.1 billion reais with an IPO that could kick-start the country's cautious capital markets this year. The Unicasa transaction is expected to close by April 25 and the shares are scheduled to start trading in Sao Paulo on April 27 under the symbol "UCAS3." Unicasa hired the investment banking units of BTG Pactual, Itaú Unibanco Holding (ITUB4.SA) and Banco Santander Brasil (SANB11.SA) to manage the transaction. ($1 = 1.82 reais) (Reporting by Alberto Alerigi and Brad Haynes; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Maureen Bavdek) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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