The Brazilian online bank Nubank It was released this Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange with a rise that brought its value to about 47,000 million dollars, consolidating itself as one of the largest Latin American banks.
The rise was more than 14.5% over the price set for its IPO, of $ 9, to close at $ 10.33. At the beginning of the transactions it traded up to 11.25 dollars.
Nubank, founded in 2013 by the Colombian David Velez, the American Edward Wible and the Brazilian Cristina Junqueira, put 289.2 million shares on the market, which allowed them to raise 2.603 million dollars of capital.
The entity also reserves the possibility of selling an additional 28.5 million shares during the next 30 days at the initially set price.
His Initial Public Offering (IPO for its acronym in English) includes some 40 million dollars in BDRs, certificates equivalent to shares traded on the São Paulo Stock Exchange.
For the executive director of the Brazilian fintech, the Colombian David Vélez, the US IPO is a “consequence of the growth” that the firm had “for eight years.” It is “a way of accelerating our impact,” he said in a program broadcast on YouTube.
The money raised will allow Nubank expand its activity in countries such as Colombia and Mexico where it is already established.
New stage
The jump to the New York stock market is the “beginning of another phase, which allows us to have a much greater impact than we had until now”, although the bank continues with the same “mission and the same values that brought us here,” said Vélez. , trained at the American University of Stanford.
For clients, the capital increase “does not change anything,” said Junqueira, in charge of pressing the button that symbolically started the session of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Wall Street.
The Brazilian bank, which today dressed the New York parquet in purple, is listed on Wall Street under the reference “NU” and on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange under the symbol NUBR33.
Nubank attracted a $ 500 million investment from the fund in June Berkshire Hathaway from Warren Buffet, recognized for his successful investments. Their endorsement was added to that of renowned funds such as Sequoia (investor of Airbnb) and the Chinese Tencent.
“The money under the mattress”
Now Holdings, become the owner of one of the largest “neobanks” in the world together with the British Revol, competes in market capitalization with the traditional Itaú Unibanco, so far the largest in Brazil in the private sector.
Helped by the agility that smartphones allow, the Brazilian fintech was born with the purpose of eliminating bureaucracy and high commissions and is focused on payment services with credit cards without associated costs.
With 48 million clients in Brazil, in addition to Colombia and Mexico, the online bank still has ample room to grow.
There are still 200 million people in Latin America who do not have access to banks and still keep their money under the mattress, “Velez told CNBC.
In Brazil alone, some 182 million of the 213 million inhabitants have access to banking services, according to official data.
The closure of a good part of the services by the coronavirus pandemic It has contributed to the behavior change of the population.
“The concept of saving in a digital bank and in a bank without agencies scared many people,” Velez recalled. Now they have started to “test with us and have found it to be a better option.”
Since March 2020, when the pandemic started, In Brazil alone, 17 million new clients were added, especially to receive government aid. In that pandemic period, Nubank nearly doubled its local customers, to 41 million.
In its eight years of life, Now Holdings has not yet had benefits. In the first nine months of 2021, it posted losses of $ 99 million despite the fact that its business volume doubled in one year to $ 1.06 billion (+ 105%).
In this time, Velez has become one of the billionaires listed by Forbes, with a fortune valued at $ 5.2 billion. Together with his wife, he has ensured that he will donate most of it.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx