LatinFinance - July/August 2015 - 10

NEWS
EQUITY/M&A

Deal flow across a range of industries picked up in the second
quarter of the year. By Eduardo García

Acquisitive mood
Latin American M&A activity
went into full swing in June
with a string of deals across
the region, highlighting strong
appetite for assets from oil and
gas to food production and
power generation.
Mexico's Grupo Alfa and
Canada's Harbour Energy
agreed to buy Pacific Rubiales
in June in a deal that values
the oil company at 2.05
billion Canadian dollars ($1.68
billion). The deal faces strong
opposition from a group of
minority shareholders said to
have a 19.82% interest in the
company.
CorpBanca's shareholders
approved a revised deal to
merge their bank with Itaú
Chile, putting an end to a
dispute over the terms of the
transaction. The pair agreed to
merge their banking businesses
in Colombia and Chile last
year, but they had to modify
the terms of deal in June after
CorpBanca complained that the
original agreement overvalued
the size of Itaú Chile.
The food sector has been
particularly active. JBS bought
UK-based chicken producer
Moy Park from Marfrig for
$1.5 billion. The transaction is
part of JBS' drive to increase
its geographic diversification,
as it gives it greater access to
the European market. The
divestment will allow Marfrig to
strengthen its capital structure
and to focus on beef exports
to Asia and the US, its core
markets.

Grupo Alfa has complete
ownership of Spain's cold-cut
meat producer Campofrio
after buying 37% of the shares
from WH Group for $354
million, while Mexico's Grupo
Bimbo inked a preliminary
agreement to buy breadmaker
Panrico, which operates
in Spain and Portugal, from
private equity firm Oaktree
Capital.
Activity in Brazil also picked
up. Saraiva sold its education
and content editorial business,
Saraiva Educação, to Abril
Educação for 725 million
reais ($237 million), in a bid to
improve its capital structure.
Spain's Ezentis bought 100% of
Ability Tecnologia e Serviços
for €55.4 million ($62 million).
Cemig's subsidiary Renova
Energia sold 1.61 billion
reais ($533 million) in assets
to SunEdison's TerraForm
Global.
The US energy company
also bought Globeleq
Mesoamerica Energy, a
Central American renewable
energy producer for $326.4
million from two private equity
funds. Actis, a global EM
energy-focused private equity
fund and Mesoamerica Power
were the sellers of 70% and
30% stakes, respectively.
Colombian conglomerate
Grupo Argos bought 25%
of Odinsa for 465 billion
Colombian pesos ($183 million),
following a heavily-subscribed
tender offer. Argos had offered
to buy between 20% and 25%

10 L ATINFINA NCE.COM - July/August 2015

M&A rank by volume, year to June 30
Credit Suisse piles in
Rank

Advisor

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Credit Suisse
Rothschild
UBS
BTG Pactual
JPMorgan
BofA Merrill Lynch
Citi
Deutsche Bank
GMP Capital Inc
Itau BBA
Total

Value ($m)

No. Deals

10,743
10,417
9,775
9,141
9,099
8,862
7,956
6,535
6,025
5,479

6
5
4
15
5
8
5
3
1
17

45,148

717

Source: Dealogic

of the engineering company
for 9,500 Colombian pesos per
share, after acquiring a 24.8%
stake in mid-April.
Canada's Aecon signed an
agreement to sell its 45.5%
interest in Quito International
Airport (Quiport) to
Colombia's Grupo Odinsa and
Brazil's CCR for $233 million.
The deal leaves the buyers with
50% each of the airport project.

Mexican equity shines
In Mexico, equity markets
came back to life, with four
transactions pricing in the
country in May and June.
Unifin raised 3.14 billion
pesos ($206 million) through
the first IPO from a Latin
American company in 2015,
pricing the deal slightly above
the mid-point of the target
range. The financial company
sold 112 million shares at 28
pesos each, after issuing a
target range of 25 to 30 pesos.

The deal was said to be strongly
oversubscribed.
Gicsa followed suit when it
raised 7.2 billion pesos ($464
million), in an all-primary listing
that was priced at the lower end
of the 17 to 21 pesos price target.
The company sold 368 million
shares, as planned in the base
deal.
Real estate investment trust
Fibra HD raised 1.57 billion
pesos ($100 million), including
overallotment options, in the
third Mexican IPO this year.
The real estate investment
trust sold the certificates at 10
pesos apiece, in line with price
indications issued ahead of
the transaction. The offering
was for Mexican investors only
and was very well subscribed,
LatinFinance heard.
An IPO for autopart maker
Nemak came in at the lower
end of the 20 to 23 peso target
range, raising 12.36 billion pesos
in the primary transaction. LF
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LatinFinance - July/August 2015
