Latin American Companies Prep for NYSE Listing

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NYSE Euronext led the global market for IPOs in 2011 with $35 billion in total capital raised on its European and U.S. markets, more than any exchange group in the world. We added three companies from Latin America in 2011: Adecco-Agro (NYSE: AGRO), an Argentine-based agribusiness; Arcos Dorados (NYSE: ARCO), the Latin America operator of McDonald's franchise in Latin America and the Caribbean regions and Fortuna Silver Mining (NYSE: FSM), a Latin American silver and base metal producer.

In 2012 so far, we listed Cementos Pacasmayo (NYSE: CPAC), a leading Peruvian cement company which raised approximately $250 million in its US IPO on February 8th. Pacasmayo, was the first Latin American company to tap the global markets with a NYSE listing this year. This listing will provide global investors exposure to growth of Peruvian economy. See this WSJ piece for more information.

We are working with many Latin American companies considering a US offering. The likely candidates are from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia. The regions is extremely active, and I expect to see some deals in the tapping the US markets this year.

See my recent interview in Brasil Econômico newspaper on February 3rd.

Some excerpts/highlights from the interview/article:

• daily trading volume of Brazilian ADRs reaches around US$ 3 billion on NYSE
• Eleven Latin American firms preparing ADR listings on NYSE
• Companies such as Vale, Petrobras, Itau and Gerdau are among the top 20 on NYSE in terms liquidity