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Riverwood’s Portfolio Company Globant Said to Plan IPO for First Quarter 2014

10 December 2013

(Businessweek) Globant, a Buenos Aires-based technology-services provider whose clients include Google Inc., plans to hold its initial public offering early next year, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Globant would be the first Argentine company to go public since the March 2011 IPO of McDonald’s Corp. restaurant operator Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (ARCO:US) It benefits from having most of its revenue outside Argentina, which helps shield it from currency controls and the specter of government intervention, according to Alejandro Bianchi, the head of investment at Buenos Aires brokerage Invertironline.com.

“It has an optimal business model with income outside the country in dollars, which it only has to repatriate to pay local costs in pesos,” Bianchi said. “This is why it’s able to go to international markets, while probably a pure Argentine company couldn’t.”

Globant press officials didn’t respond to a telephone message seeking comment on the timing of the IPO.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay debt and finance capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions and working capital, according to the registration statement. Underwriters include units of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG.

Globant’s revenue increased to $37.4 million in the second quarter from $29.4 million in the same period last year, with 82 percent coming from North America and only 5 percent from Argentina. It posted income of $5.6 million in the April to June period compared with losses of $6.4 million a year earlier.