DR’s Very First IPO

In 2013, the Stock Market of the Dominican Republic (BVRD) traded the first Closed-End Fund. Felipe Amador, BVRD’s CEO told TBY that the Dominican stock market was, “expecting several other listings of mutual funds and investments trusts throughout the coming months.”

Furthermore, the very first IPO in the Dominican Republic’s history has recently been approved. This momentous IPO, undertaken by CCI Puesto de Bolsa (a Santo Domingo-based securities broker), is expected to be traded on the BVRD in the first quarter of 2015, and will undoubtedly have a transformative effect on local securities market.

CCI Puesto de Bolsa has been represented by Squire Patton Boggs, led by Santo Domingo-based corporate partner Awilda Alcantara-Bourdier (AAB), in securing necessary regulatory approvals. As stated by AAB, “this IPO demonstrates CCI Puesto de Bolsa’s commitment to the Dominican Republic, as well as to implementing world class corporate governance standards, paving the way for other local entities to follow.” Feller Rate has rated CCI Puesto de Bolsa’s solvency at BB with a stable outlook. The stock issuance was authorized for as many as 373,734 shares and according to Andrea Rodeschini, spokeswoman for Squire Sanders, “it is understood that the most significant aspect of this operation is that it will open a new market for local and foreign companies that were interested in issuing stock, but did not want to be the first ones to do so.” Now, led by CCI Puesto de Bolsa’s example, several Dominican companies are expected to follow; as Amador put it, “there is an interesting pipeline of large market-cap companies soliciting approval to go public in 2015.”

Increasing interest in corporate governance among Dominican companies is considered a turning point, and is expected to profoundly change the landscape of the Dominican stock market. Meanwhile, according to Guillermo Arancibia, JMMB Puesto de Bolsa’s General Director, “if these opportunities crystallize the market will obviously change dramatically, not because the equities will generate a high transaction volume, but because there will be a new accurate perception in the entire market of what the real value added of the securities market really is.”