Report: Globant to Float Shares on NY Stock Exchange Early Next Year

Globant – one of the most prominent and symbolic brands reflecting the juggernaut rise of Latin America IT services – is floating shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2014, reports Bloomberg quoting an unnamed source. The report comes four months after the Argentinean technology giant notified to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would like to raise $86.3 million in an IPO.

The IPO is more or less in line with a rough estimate Globant CEO Martin Migoya made during a Nearshore Americas interview in 2011, although at that time the expectation was that Globant would list on NASDAQ.

It is the 14th company from Argentina to be traded on the exchange but the first Argentinean technology firm to float shares on the US capital market. Not long ago Globant incorporated in Luxembourg, and therefore the company – at least according to formal paperwork – is headquartered there.

Globant develops software and provides IT services for clients such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Disney, Electronic Arts, Google, JP Morgan Chase & Co., LinkedIn, National Geographic and Zynga. Recently, the company has become one of the main ITO service providers in Latin America.

For Globant, a vast majority of its revenue comes from North America. Therefore, analysts say, floating shares on New York Stock Exchange will give a significant boost to its financial arm.

In January this year, British advertising agency WPP bought a 21.5% stake in Globant for $70 million. Globant posted revenue of $71.1 million for the first half of 2013, up 26% on the same period last year, while revenue for 2012 was $128.8 million, 43% higher than in 2011.

Buenos Aires-based company employs around 3,000 engineers, developers, marketing specialists and designers in 21 offices across 14 cities in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, the United States and the United Kingdom.