Agrenco, Eletropaulo, GCC, Tegma, YPF: Latin Equity Preview

By [bn:PRSN=1] William Freebairn [] and Paulo Winterstein

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes today in Latin America trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close. Preferred shares are usually the most-traded class of stock in Brazil.

The MSCI Latin America Index rose 2.7 percent yesterday to 3,979.79.

Argentina

YPF SA (YPFD AF): Repsol YPF SA, parent company of energy company YPF, will begin the first Argentine offshore exploration for oil and natural gas in 30 years, Planning Minister Julio de Vido said on a government Web site yesterday. YPF was unchanged at 147 pesos.

Brazil

Agrenco Ltd. (AGEN11 BS): The agriculture and biofuels company filed for bankruptcy protection for its Brazilian subsidiaries. Sao Paulo-based Agrenco said in a regulatory filing yesterday that the protection is a condition imposed by lenders for the company to receive new loans. Agrenco said it will give details of the plan to restructure its finances within the next 60 days. Agrenco was unchanged at 44 centavos.

Banco Nossa Caixa SA (BNCA3 BS): Banco do Brasil SA, Latin America's largest bank by assets, hasn't yet offered a price to buy Nossa Caixa SA, Milton de Melo Santos, Nossa Caixa's chief executive officer, said yesterday. Banco do Brasil, which is based in Brasilia, is holding talks for the acquisition of four state-controlled banks including Sao Paulo-based Nossa Caixa. The bank said earlier this month it expects to agree on a price soon and aims to wrap up the deal by the end of November. Nossa Caixa rose 1.2 percent to 37.85 reais.

Eletropaulo Metropolitana SA (ELPL6 BS): The Brazilian utility controlled by AES Corp. will go ahead with its payment of a 360 million reais ($223 million) dividend. The Sao Paulo- based company won a court decision reversing an earlier cancellation of the dividend, Eletropaulo said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The utility fell 2.2 percent to 29.84 reais.

Tegma Gestao Logistica SA (TGMA3 BS): The logistics company that specializes in transporting cars may buy back 1.72 million voting shares, or as much as 7 percent of outstanding shares, during the next 90 days. The company didn't say in yesterday's filing how many shares were repurchased during the previous program, announced in May, to buy back up to 7 percent of shares. Tegma added 0.4 percent to 13.05 reais.

Mexico

Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SAB (GCC* MM): The Mexican cement company got a $140 million bank loan that will be used to refinance lending used to buy some U.S. facilities. The loan was made by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, ABN Amro Bank NV, Barclays Bank Plc, Export Development Canada, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, Cementos de Chihuahua said in a statement to Mexico's stock exchange yesterday. GCC, as the company is known, fell 0.7 percent to 44.69 pesos.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Freebairn in Mexico City at wfreebairn@bloomberg.net; Paulo Winterstein in Sao Paulo at pwinterstein@bloomberg.net.