Brazil shoemaker IPO joins effort to bring back 2017 buzz

Brazilian shoemaker Dass Nordeste on Monday announced plans to raise around 1 billion reais ($300 million) in an initial public offering, joining a handful of companies trying to bring back last year’s momentum.

Three Brazilian companies have called off IPO plans this year and none has successfully sold shares on the Sao Paulo stock exchange, underscoring rising anxiety about an unfinished economic agenda and unsettled political outlook.

By comparison, last year was the busiest year for Brazilian IPOs since 2013, with two IPOs and two major follow-on share offerings worth nearly $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2017.

In private conversations, two prominent Brazilian investment bankers in the past month cut their informal estimates for IPOs this year, citing more volatile global markets and uncertainty about the country’s October presidential election.

Still, the benchmark Bovespa stock index is up 10 percent this year, hovering near all-time highs, as recovering economic growth, low inflation and record-low interest rates attract investors.

Dass and its controlling shareholders, the Hermes family, hope to tap that appetite to raise about 1 billion reais ($300 million) if the IPO prices in the middle of the range, between 14 reais and 17 reais, according to a securities filing.

The company has hired banks Itaú BBA, Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co to manage its IPO.

Three other Brazilian companies aim to price IPOs in April: online lender Banco Inter and healthcare providers Notre Dame Intermédica Participações SA and Hapvida Participações e Investimentos.

Together they seek to raise roughly 7.2 billion reais.

Dass intends to use about 350 million reais to fund technology investments, acquisition of new brands and debt payments. Dass has the rights to produce and sell shoes with the brand Fila in Latin America, as well as Umbro in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

In 2017, Dass posted net revenue of 1.700 billion reais and a net income of 237 million reais.

Dass would join four other shoemakers already listed in Sao Paulo: Grendene SA, Alpargatas SA, Arezzo Industria e Comercio SA and Vulcabras Azaleia SA.