The banks participating in the consortium chosen by Braskem to sell the shares of the Brazilian petrochemical company on the stock exchange are working to conclude the secondary offering by the end of January, three sources familiar with the matter say. The idea is to raise between R$9 billion and R$10 billion by selling the company’s preferred stocks (PNs).
The offering on the stock exchange will involve only the PN shares of Novonor (formerly Odebrecht) and Petrobras, the two shareholders that are part of the Brazilian petrochemical company’s controlling shareholders block.
The move is crucial for Novonor to pay a good part of what it owes to the creditor banks. The group’s total debts to them amount to around R$15 billion. The group went into judicial reorganization in June 2019, with debts of nearly R$100 billion.
A source familiar with the creditors is optimistic about raising around R$10 billion, but the consortium is working with a more conservative figure of R$9 billion. Participating in the syndicate of banks to make the operation on the stock exchange are Bradesco, BTG Pactual, Citi, Itaú, JP Morgan, Santander and UBS-BB, under the coordination of Morgan Stanley.
Sources familiar with the matter told Valor that the efforts of the syndicate of banks will be to make the secondary offering in Brazil and abroad — there is an expectation that institutional funds, which are already minority shareholders in the Brazilian group, will take part in the offering.
Braskem’s market capitalization closed at R$ 42.4 billion on Wednesday. The company’s preferred shares closed the day at R$53.77, down 4.8%, but up 160% in one year. Common shares closed at R$52.85, down 3.9% in the day, but up 137% in 12 months, according to Valor Data.
Novonor holds 38.4% of the company’s capital and, Petrobras, 36.15%. The plan is to start with the sale of preferred shares, with 20% of the capital. The expectation is that, after this operation, the petrochemical company will migrate to Novo Mercado, the strictest governance segment of B3.
The plans to sell shares on the stock exchange gained strength after the search for a buyer for the petrochemical company did not result in an attractive proposal. Morgan Stanley, with a mandate from Novonor, was looking for one or more buyers, but the process did not bring the expected result.
At the same time, Petrobras hired J.P. Morgan to advise it on the sale of its stake in Braskem and had already signaled that it was looking for an exit along the lines of what it did with the former BR (now Vibra Energia), with more than one operation on the stock exchange. The Brazilian state-owned company is getting rid of assets that are no longer considered strategic to its business.
Sources connected to Novonor’s creditors told Valor that the sale on the stock exchange is the best alternative, since there was no firm proposal for the purchase of Braskem as a whole, only in slices. The divestment is foreseen in Novonor’s judicial reorganization plan, whose shares in Braskem were given in guarantee to creditor banks — Bradesco, Itaú, Santander and Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), besides Caixa Econômica Federal.
The largest producer of resins in the Americas, Braskem is likely to end 2021 with historic numbers — the company moved up to December the payment of R$6 billion in dividends for the current year. The Brazilian petrochemical company is on track to achieve all-time high annual net revenue of R$100 billion, almost double that seen in 2019 and 71% higher than in 2020.
Braskem, Novonor and Petrobras declined to comment.
Source: Valor international