Andre Thioller Weighs in on Scaled-Back Brazilian Fintech IPO

Foley & Lardner partner Andre Thioller assessed a Brazilian digital bank cutting its IPO by more than half just before going public in the American Banker article, “Brazil fintech Agibank scales back IPO before US debut.”

Thiollier commented that while the timing of the amendment was not unusual, the size of the cuts could be seen as more significant to investors.

“Banks normally price and finish the book building by the night before the [IPO debuts], because you want to have until the last second the ability to make sure you’re getting the right price,” he explained.

Addressing the broader fintech IPO market, Thiollier said this move underscores that “issuers are having to price conservatively to get deals done,” but added that stock price fluctuations seen following other Brazilian fintech IPOs are not uncommon.

“It’s not irregular for companies to have their stock price drop after an IPO because everybody who wants to get in on the action gets in, and then you have a lot of people selling it,” he said. “So I’m not as concerned.”

“Brazil is one of the countries with the most fintechs in the world,” Thiollier added. “There are large companies taking this window to IPO in the U.S. market, which is something that we haven’t seen since Nubank.”

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