One of the largest retailers in South America, Santiago-based Cencosud, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Brazilian stock exchange for its Brazilian operations, aiming to raise around 1.5 billion reais ($288 million).

The funds raised are earmarked to finance the company’s expansion, including via potential mergers and acquisitions, new store openings, renovations, e-commerce and logistics projects. Details, including the price range of the offering, have not been publicly announced.

Cencosud, which owns and operates shopping malls, department stores, home improvement centres, supermarket chains and other real estate interests across Latin America, first entered the Brazilian market in 2007.

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Chilean Retail Giant Cencosud Reports Double-Digit Q2 Growth

One of the largest retailers in South America, Cencosud, reported overall sales growth of 23.3 percent year-on-year for the second quarter to 2.67 trillion Chilean pesos ($3.4 billion) in 2021. EBITDA grew 11.9 percent.