A company with plans to go to market for the first time needs to follow its reputation journey before embarking on an IPO. After almost three years without debuts on the stock exchange, there is a possibility of a resumption of initial public offerings in the second half of the year, an opportunity for companies that want to take advantage of this window or better prepare themselves to go public.
Intentional corporate reputation management is strategic for business success and, in this case, an additional advantage during the listing process. “The IPO is the moment when great scrutiny will be carried out by national and international investors, and specialist analysts will evaluate the company based on public information”, says the superintendent of relations with companies at B3, Leonardo Resende.
The operational part of the process is mainly characterized by the communication and exposure of company information and compliance with a series of requirements in compliance with rules and legislation. Consolidated companies that have the trust of stakeholders tend to follow this path with more agility and efficiency.
When opting to go public, companies need to be able to comply with corporate governance requirements and harmonize interests with society, in addition to presenting transparency and seriousness in management, assesses Resende, highlighting: “Knowing and working on your reputation in advance supports companies in mitigating risks during a public offering”.
With more transparency, companies that have better governance and, consequently, a better reputation, tend to attract a greater number of investors and have greater share liquidity and market value, says Resende. Compliance with these standards is important to prevent surprises and issues related to lack of knowledge from being made public by investors within the scope of offers, which could even lead to a change in plans.
Challenges: misinformation, fake news and adherence to ESG practices
One of the biggest challenges for any company in times of the internet, social networks, blogs and podcasts is to protect itself against the dissemination of misleading, malicious information and data, which are even disseminated in non-compliance with regulations or to the detriment of the business strategy. , warns Insper professor Otavio Yazbek.
In the case of public companies, unfavorable information can be reflected very quickly in the share price. “In a society like today's, one can pay a high price for any mistake, even due to the way information circulates”, reinforces Yazbek, who presided over the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) between 2009 and 2013.
Therefore, the company that intends to go to market needs to have adequate decision-making processes to better deal with new topics, either to show that decisions were made in a motivated way, or to avoid the risks inherent to “ownerless” processes. “It is important to have clear competencies, to have a slot on the board where this is discussed, to record discussions and disagreements”, recommends Yazbek.
More control, transparency and visibility
The decision to go public is one of the most complex and important to be taken by the company, B3 discloses in the IPO Guide. The reasons: the IPO significantly changes the organizational structure, transforms the organization's strategic positioning, increases transparency and changes the way the company is seen by the market and society.
In practice, when going public, the company now has to disclose quarterly and more robust financial information, as well as periodic and occasional, complying with deadlines and requirements of regulatory bodies. This volume of information disclosed to the market and monitoring by investors and the media allows for greater visibility and recognition among all audiences with which the company interacts.
Two examples of IPOS from the last rounds
Two companies that are in the process of building their reputation and that have already debuted on the market give an idea, in practice, of what needs to be done in advance until D-day. One of them is Locaweb, today LWSA, from São Paulo, a digital solutions company, with a net revenue of R$ 1.29 billion in the 2023 financial statements. Boa Safra Seeds, from Formosa, Goiás, a reference in soybean seed production, with reported net revenue of R$ 2.07 billion in 2023.
The CEO of LWSA, Fernando Cirne, took the stand at B3 with members of the team on February 6, 2020. The CEO of Boa Safra Sementes, Marino Colpo, and the team celebrated Boa Safra's IPO at B3 just over a year later , on April 29, 2021.
Both LWSA and Boa Safra Sementes had independent auditors and strategic partners. Since 2010, today's LWSA was already associated with the investor SilverLake, which boosted company acquisitions and ended up contributing, more recently, to the change of corporate name. Boa Safra, equally, sought an anchor in Hix Capital, seeking to facilitate the IPO operation with a partner known in the market.
Some Locaweb movements
- Since 2012, it has invested in ways to reduce and optimize electricity consumption.
- Creation, in 2019, of the Inclusion & Diversity Committee.
- Adherence, in 2021, to the Global Compact, establishing a commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Increase of 0.7 percentage points in the representation of women in the workforce and 3.2 percentage points in female leadership, reaching 39.1% of the total base, reported in 2023.
- The building in which it operates, in São Paulo, is located in a preserved native green area of 40 thousand m².
Sources: ESG Report and IR website
Some movements of Boa Safra Sementes
- Board of Directors has 80% independent members.
- The Board of Directors is chaired by a woman.
- The company has an ESG Committee that includes the participation of leadership members.
- In 2018 and 2019, it was recognized with the Instituto Chico Mendes Green Seal, for responsible socio-environmental management
- It has a photovoltaic plant at a unit in Goiás and explores technologies with forage seeds that contribute to carbon capture.
Sources: ESG Report and RI website
Expansion through acquisitions
Founded in 1998 by cousins Gilberto Mautner and Claudio Gora, Locaweb, LWSA since the rebranding in November 2023, started operating in just one room, with one server and a modest investment.
Website hosting (hosting) served as a platform to expand other businesses, create a network of developers and boost M&A operations.
Today, says Henrique Marquezi, director of Investor Relations, the company offers an ecosystem of digital solutions and has changed its brand to accompany its transformation. After more than two dozen acquisitions, facilitated by the IPO four years ago, LWSA seeks to consolidate itself as one of the largest technology groups in Brazil, based on two premises.
“The first point is that the company has always been concerned about being profitable”, says Marquezi. “The second is that, in 2007, thinking about the long term, it established an independent board of directors.”
Now it's time to follow on
Boa Safra Sementes is associated in origin with the individual Goiás producer Neri Colpo, a reference for decades in soybean planting. At the time of transformation into a legal entity, in 2009, the option was to separate the seed and planting businesses, to make it easier for the public to understand that they are different areas.
Since the IPO, the company has accumulated gains. “It wasn’t luck, but the result of preparation of governance, processes, management”, says Felipe Marques, CFO and IRO of the company. He highlights that visibility is much greater, as there needs to be more transparency, also generating benefits for customers and suppliers. “If Boa Safra were a privately held company, we wouldn’t have done many deals, including M&A deals,” he states.
Now, the company from Goiás puts more seeds into the ground. Last Thursday (11/4), he published a relevant fact with the conditions of his follow on – base offer of R$ 200 million, reaching R$ 400 million hot issue. The idea is to use the resources to expand seed storage and distribution centers.
