The international financial crisis did not take long to spill onto Brazilian companies’ funding. Without the funds from initial public offerings (IPOs), the natural option would be debt issuances, but the production sector now finds it hard to offer the premiums demanded by the market. In September, Localiza Rent a Car postponed a R$ 300 million debenture issuance. Sabesp has an offering undergoing analysis by CVM, in which it considers paying investors up to 120% of the CDI (Interbank Deposit Certificate).

“A cheaper way out is to place guarantees on the capitalization”, advises Marcelo Xandó, directing partner at Verax Serviços Financeiros. For such, he recommends the Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditórios – FIDC (Credit Rights Investment Funds), which are secured by receivables. According to him, the lack of confidence in credits that fed securitizations in the U.S. has not affected that product in Brazil. On the contrary: Xandó expects that the crisis will attract a new customer profile to FIDCs. “These are companies with about R$ 100 million in annual revenues, high-quality receivables, and difficulties in funding themselves through banks.” But this movement is not that fast. Many companies in this situation still have no rating, which is one of the regulator’s requirements for issuance of FIDCs.

Xandó discards the possibility of a reduction in credit granted to individual investors affecting the FIDC market in the short term. Employment and income have remained unharmed by the crisis up until now, emphasizes the manager. He also does not see institutional investors fleeing for fear of the credit’s lack of quality. “They are moving in the opposite direction. I see institutional investors taking resources from equity and applying them to fixed income products, which offer a higher return.” Currently, 15 FIDC offerings – with a total volume of R$ 1.3 billion – are awaiting registration at CVM.