Nubank files preliminary IPO request to go public in the U.S. and Brazil

Digital bank would have given up Nasdaq and chosen NYSE for listing in the United States, according to Bloomberg

Nubank partners with Creditas to offer credit products — Photo: Nubank/Blog

27.Oct.2021 18:54 BRT

Brazilian digital bank Nubank filed this Wednesday (27) a confidential preliminary filing with the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CVM (Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission). According to a statement, it filed a registration request to list Class A common shares in the United States and to trade BDRs on the Brazilian stock exchange B3.

Also, according to the Bloomberg website, Nubank has given up on its IPO at Nasdaq and opted for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The information is attributed to a source familiar with the issue. The Brazilian company PagSeguro is also listed at NYSE, while the Nasdaq trades the shares of Stone and XP. Neither Nubank nor NYSE has made any comment on the matter at this time.

The expectations for Nubank‘s IPO are high. The digital bank seeks a valuation that would put it above Itaú Unibanco’s $55.4 billion.

By way of comparison, Nubank closed 2020 with a loss of BRL 230 million and a loan portfolio of about BRL 18 billion, while Itaú had a profit of BRL 18.5 billion and its loan portfolio totaled BRL 870 billion.

If Nubank is successfully listed at greater than Itau’s $55.4 billion market cap, it would be vaulted into the ranks of the world’s largest fintechs, ahead of recently listed Robinhood Markets, for example.

Recently, Nubank managed to turn a profit in the first half of 2021 in its Brazilian operations, as it lured more clients to its credit card, according to a statement on its website. It is the first time that the fintech company with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as investor has turned a profit for a full semester.

Nu Pagamentos, as Nubank is formally known, posted a net income of BRL 76 million ($13.7 million) in the period between January and June. In the same period a year earlier, Nubank had a loss of BRL 95 million reais. The results do not include Nubank’s operations in Colombia and Mexico, although Brazil is the fintech’s largest market by far.