Shearman & Sterling counsel Carla Passos, who splits her time between the firm’s New York and São Paulo offices, was quoted in The Christian Science Monitor on the current IPO market in Brazil. In a story titled “Brazil’s IPO schedule looks set to end drought,” Passos said she expected the IPO market to get more active in the wake of the reelection of President Dilma Rousseff. “Companies had been holding out to see what would happen with the presidential election in 2014. But if a company needs money, it can only wait for so long. Life has to continue.”
The story looked at the government’s plan to consider an IPO for state-run mortgage lender Caixa Econômica Federal in light of other upcoming public offerings from machinery renter Ouro Verde Locacao e Servico S.A., Brazilian air carrier Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A., cell phone tower company T4U Holding Brasil S.A., and food processor JBS S.A. Passos noted that the first step to make a public offering and list internationally on the stock exchanges in São Paulo and New York, for example, is hiring underwriters and law firms, as well as an independent auditor. She said that the entire process can take several months, including US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration, which in itself can take 3-6 months. “For a state-owned company, the IPO process can take substantially longer due to political and policy considerations,” she added.