Buenaventura, Durango, Modelo, Sadia, VCP: Latin Equity Preview

By William Freebairn and Paulo Winterstein

Oct. 7 (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 fell 11 percent to 2,502.6 yesterday.

Brazil

EDP - Energias do Brasil SA (ENBR3 BS): EDP-Energias de Portugal SA's Brazilian unit was reiterated at ``buy'' at Citigroup Inc. after it said yesterday that it plans to buy back as much as 10 percent of its common shares. Energias do Brasil fell 1.6 percent to 22.47 reais.

Rossi Residencial SA (RSID3 BS): Brazil's fourth-largest homebuilder plans to raise 150 million reais ($68.8 million) by selling new shares to existing shareholders. The company plans to issue 34.5 million new voting shares to be sold at 4.35 reais each in a private placement, Rossi said in a statement. Rossi fell 20 percent to 3.70 reais.

Sadia SA (SDIA4 BS): The Brazilian food company that fired its chief financial officer after posting a hedging loss said its chairman and vice chairman resigned. Luiz Fernando Furlan, Brazil's former trade minister, will take over temporarily as chairman, replacing Walter Fontana Filho, Sadia said yesterday in a statement. Vice Chairman Eduardo Fontana d'Avila also resigned. Separately, Standard & Poor's cut Sadia's credit rating one level to BB, two levels below investment grade, citing the hedging losses. Sadia fell 5.3 percent to 5.60 reais.

Votorantim Celulose & Papel SA (VCPA4 BS): The announcement by Brazil's third-biggest pulp maker that it was delaying its merger with Aracruz Celulose SA is ``negative news for both companies'' as it creates uncertainty about the deal, Fator Corretora strategist Lika Takahashi wrote in a note yesterday. VCP fell 1 percent to 22.75 reais.

Chile

Cia. Cervecerias Unidas SA (CCU CC): Chile's largest beer brewer said third-quarter sales volume rose 11 percent to 3.42 million hectoliters, in a preliminary review of results. Sales increased 4 percent in Chile and 45 percent in Argentina compared with the year-earlier quarter, the Santiago-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. CCU said it will report third-quarter earnings by the end of October. Shares fell 6.4 percent to 3,366.90 pesos.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM/B CC): Chile's biggest crop nutrient producer has fallen in an ``overreaction'' to declining commodity prices, Rodrigo Martin, head of research at Banchile Inversiones, said by phone from Santiago yesterday. The company known as Soquimich has dropped 39 percent in the last month, making it the Ipsa index's worst-performing stock. Soquimich shares fell 5.1 percent to 10,520 pesos.

Mexico

Corporacion Durango SAB (CODUSA* MM): Mexico's largest paper maker missed an interest payment on senior notes and filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Mexico. Durango fell 15 percent to 5.80 pesos.

Financiera Independencia SAB (FINDEP* MM): The Mexican lender to low-income consumers said it may increase its bank debt by 22 percent to 618 million pesos ($52 million) as it buys back as many as 50 million shares. Bank borrowing may increase to 3.4 billion pesos, the bank said in a statement to the Mexican stock exchange yesterday. Financiera Independencia fell 4.6 percent to 10 pesos.

Grupo Modelo SAB (GMODELOC MM): Mexico's largest beer maker is ``unlikely'' to win a dispute with Anheuser-Busch Cos., which holds a 50 percent non-controlling share in Modelo, Citigroup Inc. said. Modelo is seeking arbitration over the U.S. brewer's acquisition by InBev NV. InBev structured the purchase of Anheuser-Busch to avoid Modelo's challenge, analyst Celso Sanchez wrote in a report e-mailed yesterday. Modelo fell 9.4 percent to 39.07 pesos.

Peru

Cia. de Minas Buenaventura (BVN PE): The world's seventh- largest gold producer said it may sell as much as $350 million in bonds. No date has been set for the sale of the unsecured notes, the company said in a statement e-mailed yesterday. Buenaventura fell 1.4 percent to $20.70.

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