Gafisa begins to analyze deals djset by Alphaville

The Board of Directors of Gafisa will begin considering next week the options for the sale of loteadora Alphaville. The deadline for the submission of tenders to the Rothschild Bank, hired to do the survey of options on the market, ended yesterday. The Alphaville is valued at about $ 1.8 billion.
According to sources, about 20 interested arrived to look at Alphaville, but three buyers remained in contention: the Homeland Investment private equity fund, in partnership with the Blackstone Fund; the holding company GP investments, paired with the Equity International, American investor Sam Zell; and the southern hemisphere Investments Manager (HSI).
The case of Sam Zell is curious. The investor was relevant shareholder of Gafisa until 2010, when it sold its stake, shortly before the company begin to face delays, budget overruns and cancellations of sales that resulted in the total loss of $ 1.1 billion in 2011.
Known for buying firms in difficulty in the United States, Zell has come to contemplate the purchase of problematic Tent-affordable housing arm of the group, but the deal was not finalized by disagreement over the price. Now, try back to Gafisa with Alphaville, considered an asset of market quality.
What if comments behind the scenes of negotiation is that prospective buyers seek control of loteadora, with an interest in acquiring a slice of at least 60%. The minority interest would be discarded. Sources say that the candidates have proposals to buy off Alphapar Empreendimentos e Participações da loteadora.
Internal negotiation. Gafisa owns 80% of Alphaville and is completing the purchase of the remaining 20% share, which belongs to Alphapar, founder of allotments. However, the parties have not reached an agreement on the number of actions that should transfer to Gafisa Alphapar as payment for additional slice.
The case was referred for arbitration last year, and has not yet come to a definition. If the sale of Alphaville is confirmed, payment by 20% would be made by Gafisa, Alphapar's cash excluding the former owner of the relevant shareholders.
The decision on the sale of loteadora, however, is still not completely closed. The Board of Directors of Gafisa is in favour of the deal, as a way to reduce the indebtedness of the group, while another party prefers to keep the loteadora and is considering an IPO in the future.
The sale would serve to reduce the Group's debt, which has one of the highest leverage (debt ratio and Ebitda-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the industry. Wanted, nor the Gafisa nor potential buyers have spoken on the subject.