Minerva hopes to capture $1 bi R with IPO

The Minerva Foods hopes to capture between R and R $1.5 $1 billion billion initial stock offering (IPO) of the subsidiary Athena Foods on Santiago, Chile. The company wants to carry out the process in the second quarter of 2019. Athena Foods is formed by the units of the company in Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The intention is to negotiate up to 35% of the subsidiary, which accounts for 40% of the revenue of the group. According to the CFO of the Minerva, Edison at least R Ticle $1 billion of this total must be used for the payment of the debt of the company, which seeks to reduce the rate of leverage (measured by the ratio between net debt and the adjusted Ebitda). During meeting with analysts and investors yesterday in Sao Paulo, the Executive has outlined three possible scenarios for the reduction of leverage – currently at 4.9 times – at the end of next year. One of them envisages a reduction in the index to 2.3 times the 3 times, considering the value captured via IPO and the capital increase in R $1 billion in an environment of dollar R $3.90. He also calculated that the company can save R $100 million per year with the monetization of ICMS credits for payment of obligations such as social security. The company plans to reopen yet one of its four units in Argentina if the IPO is successful. Currently, only the Rosary plant is in operation. "Depending on the scenario of Argentina, will opt for the unit to better serve the market," said the CEO of the company, Fernando Galletti de Queiroz. Brazil for Brazil, Galletti designed a positive scenario in the offer, that should continue in the coming years. He even pointed out the possibility of China enable new units of company slaughter for export. Currently, only one of the seven slaughter plants in operation in the country is allowed to board a flight to the Chinese market. " We were visited last Friday [23] and we were right, "said COO Luis Ricardo Alves Light, estimating that" at least one or two "units can be enabled. "Let's wait for the process." Galletti still showed optimism with the growth of domestic markets in countries such as Chile and Brazil. During the event, swine fever, the Managing Director of MB Agro and member of the Board of Minerva, Alexandre Mendonça de Barros, pointed out that the health crisis caused by African swine fever could lead China to expand imports of meat. " Until recently, China had never gone through a health crisis with the magnitude that can be that. It seems to me that we will see the Asian country expanding imports of meat in addition to grains, "he said. He added that the disease has no cure nor vaccine, presupposes the Elimination of herd and has a significant number of cases registered in the Asian country. "This can bring a growing situation for export of meat."