Banco ABC Brasil S A : Latin America gym chain SmartFit prices shares in IPO at 23 reais -sources

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Latin American gym chain SmartFit priced its shares in its initial public offering at 23 reais on Monday, in the middle of its 20-25 reais price range, raising at least 2.3 billion reais ($443.95 million), three sources familiar with the matter said.

The company declined to comment on the matter.

SmartFit, which has private equity firm Patria Investments, Canada's CPP Investments and Singapore's GIC among its investors, has expanded rapidly in the region even as many fitness chains have been forced to close gyms during coronavirus lockdowns.

With deep-pocketed shareholders, SmartFit has used this period to embark on acquisitions. It has 928 units throughout Latin America, including in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina.

The company said it plans to use the IPO proceeds mostly to open new units and also to acquire additional gym chains.

It is not yet clear if SmartFit has sold overallotments in the offerings, which could raise the number of shares sold by as much as 35%.

Itau BBA, Morgan Stanley, BTG Pactual and Santander Brasil and Banco ABC Brasil managed the IPO.

($1 = 5.1808 reais)

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall)