UPDATE 1-Brazilian retailer Via Varejo raises $864 mln in share sale, sources say

(Adds second source, historical stock performance)

SAO PAULO, June 15 (Reuters) – Brazilian retailer Via Varejo raised 4.45 billion reais ($864 million) with the sale of 297 million shares, two sources close to the company said on Monday.

The company priced the share offering at 15 reais each, a 4% discount over the closing price of 15.62 reais. High demand allowed Via Varejo to raise the number of shares sold by 35%, using overallotment provisions.

The offering was managed by the investment banking units of Banco Bradesco SA, Banco BTG Pactual SA, Banco do Brasil SA, Bank of America, Banco Santander Brasil, Banco Safra SA and broker XP Inc.

Via Varejo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Its shares rose 6.7% on Monday ahead of the offering pricing.

The response to the sale underscores strong demand from local investors despite predictions of a GDP contraction of around 5% this year due to the coronavirus, as Brazilian benchmark interest rates are at an all time low of 3%.

Via Varejo, an appliances and electronics retailer, is among the companies strongly affected by lockdowns due to the restrictions imposed by cities in the COVID-19 pandemic.

But investors have seen e-commerce growth as more important and Via Varejo shares rose more than 200% over the last 12 months.

$1 = 5.1557 reais
Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Tom Hogue and
Muralikumar Anantharaman