Opinion – Marcos de Vasconcellos: Méliuz controllers sold millions of shares while paper melted

While Méliuz’s shares (CASH3) melted on the stock exchange, losing more than 70% of their value in six months, its controllers sold more than 5 million shares.

Documents that the Market Monitor website had access to show that sales started in October and continued until the end of the year.

The cashback company (returning part of the purchase money) debuted on the stock exchange in November 2020, when it raised BRL 661 million in its initial offering (IPO). Of this amount, R$ 366 million would be allocated to the company’s cash.

For eight months of honeymoon, they had highs and reached their peak in July 2021, when they came to cost more than six times the price of the debut.

The peak occurred precisely when the company made a second offering of shares (called a follow on), raising another R$ 1.155 billion. In this case, R$ 427.5 million would go straight to the cash register.

Since then, the graph has gone downhill. Already in decline, the company split its shares: each CASH3 share became six. The idea, says the company, was to make the paper “more accessible to investors”. But the movement did not bring many new interested parties and the depreciation continued sharp.

It was in October, when the shares had already lost 65% of their price in relation to July, that Méliuz’s controllers began to get rid of them. That month, there was a donation of 4.2 million shares and two sales that totaled almost 1 million shares — yielding just over R$ 4 million to a controlling shareholder.

Two months later, the shares continued to fall and an even greater blow: a sale of 4.4 million shares, reaching the value of R$ 13.7 million, by the company’s controllers.

In the documents sent to the CVM, reporting the sales, it is not stated who the sellers are (currently, there are four controlling shareholders of the company). And that’s not what matters.

Taking into account that, in the last 15 months, Méliuz raised more than R$ 1.8 billion in the market, with almost R$ 800 million more to increase cash, it is reasonable to discard any need for liquidity to justify the large sales.

The problem with such a move is the signal to the market that not even the company’s main shareholders believe in its recovery potential. And it is a company that has attracted imposing investors, such as the infamous Daniel Dantas.

Questioned by the Market Monitor, Méliuz claims that the sales were made for strictly personal reasons and guarantees that the shares did not come out of the pocket of the CEO or the chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Landing shortly after investors were called to put in more money, in the mid-year follow-on, has a negative impact on the perception of those who bought the idea.

The signal is even more uncomfortable as it occurs precisely when the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States has punished the shares of technology and growth companies, such as Méliuz, favoring established players, such as large banks, and those who deal with commodities.

Transparency at this point is essential, and it goes beyond the mandatory communication of sales to the CVM. As Thiago Raymon, manager of Titan Capital, recalls, controllers have access to privileged information, so that their strategies are always in the interest of shareholders.

Investment consultant Thiago Ribeiro points out that, at the end of the day, they are precisely the people who, in theory, understand the company the most.

Of course, this is not something to be taken into account alone. It is yet another piece in the complex investment puzzle.

Bank of America (BofA), for example, believes that the shares currently traded at R$2.90 can reach R$7.20. BTG Pactual and XP analysts also recommend its purchase, with target prices of BRL 6 and BRL 8, respectively, each with its own rationale.

The most important thing for the investor is to know the plurality of ideas about the company to understand if it is a bet in line with the risks he is willing to take. And it’s good to make sure that the company’s main shareholders are in the same boat.