Brazilian bank Caixa Econômica Federal wants to go public with its Elo card brand and the asset management business Caixa Asset by early 2022, while it tries to scale up the credit operation in digital bank Caixa Tem before going public, said the bank’s president, Pedro Guimaraes.
“Despite the uncertainties in the market, Elo’s IPO is a good option because it is a high-growth company,” said Guimaraes. “It is possible to happen it as early as December or as late as February 2022.”
For months now, Caixa, Elo’s largest shareholder with 41.5% of the company’s capital, Bradesco, and Banco do Brasil have been trying to advance preparations for Elo’s listing. The IPO is expected to take place in one of the U.S. exchanges, aiming to facilitate comparability with global rivals Visa and Mastercard.
However, more than 60 companies have postponed or canceled their plans to debut on the stock exchange this year because of Brazil‘s political and macroeconomic instability and plummeting stock prices. Several companies that kept to the schedule of their IPOs had to accept lower-than-expected share prices. In some cases, the offerings only occurred with the guarantee of so-called anchor investors.
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Asked if the Elo IPO will have this design, Guimarães did not provide details but assured that the operation will happen.
Elo, which claims to have more than 140 million cards issued, plans to raise funds to increase its network of issuers and invest more in technology, possibly with the purchase of fintechs, as Visa and Mastercard already do.
