The Brazilian subsidiary of the French supermarket chain Carrefour has made a request to the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) for preliminary authorization to hold a public offering of shares in the country, a company spokesmen said on Friday.
The shares, which would be traded on the so-called New Market of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, would be subscribed by Atacadao, the group that controls all of Carrefour's operations in Brazil, the company's press adviser told Efe.
Atacadao, which has 498 stores and 72,000 employees in the country, presented a preliminary prospectus detailing the history of its financial development in Brazil in the last three years to the Brazilian stock market regulator.
According to the document, the supermarket chain achieved a net profit of 199 million reais (about 60.3 million dollars) in the first quarter of 2017 and its sales totaled 11.22 billion reais (about $ 3.4 billion dollars).
The request clarifies that the launch of the shares would only take place if the market conditions allow it.
Brazil's financial market has been experiencing major turbulence since last week due to the serious political crisis generated by allegations of corruption that directly hit Brazil's president, Michel Temer, against whom the Supreme Court opened an investigation.
The political crisis threatens to halt the recovery of the Brazilian economy in the first months of 2017.
The Brazilian GDP shrank by 3.8% in 2015, its worst result in 25 years, and 3.6% in 2016, which produced two consecutive years of negative growth for the first time since the 1930s.
Source: EFE