SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian shoemaker Alpargatas has raised 2.49 billion reais ($492 million) in a planned follow-on share offering, a securities filing showed.
Investment firm Itausa, which was already one of Alpargatas’ controlling shareholders, said on Wednesday it took part in the offering by acquiring 30.38 million shares.
Alpargatas sold 37.5 million common shares and 57.5 million preferred shares at 26.30 reais per share, representing a 2.3% discount to its Tuesday closing price of 26.93 reais.
Itausa said its move involved an investment of 799.1 million reais and the holding company, which also has stake in Brazil’s largest bank, Itau Unibanco Holding SA, now owns 29.6% of the total share capital of Alpargatas.
“The investment reinforces Itausa’s and the other controlling shareholders’ trust in Alpargatas’ strategy and long-term value creation,” Itausa said in a securities filing.
The offering was managed by the investment banking units of Itau, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Banco Bradesco SA and Citigroup.
Alpargatas will use the proceeds to finance the acquisition of Rothy´s Inc, a California-based maker of clothes and shoes from recycled products.
($1 = 5.0583 reais)
(Reporting by Carolina Pulice, Tatiana Bautzer and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Christian Plumb and Alexander Smith)
