Bloomberg Línea — Brazilian venture capital investor Monashees has sold around 6% of its equity in GetNinjas (NINJ3), to about 2.15%, with shares down 87% since the IPO on the Brazilian stock exchange B3, in May 2021. GetNinjas closed the trading session this Monday with a price of R$ 2.60 per share, close to its historical low. In the IPO, the share was priced at R$ 20.00 ($3.82).
Monashees raised approximately R$8.3 million ($1.6 million) from the sale of 3,239,908 shares of its 8% stake and now holds 1,076,813 shares in the digital platform that connects service providers to users. The sale is significant and symbolic because the venture capital pioneer in Latin America was one of the first investors in GetNinjas, along with Kaszek in 2011.
Among the firms that still hold most of GetNinjas’ capital are Luis Stuhlberger’s Verde Asset Management and Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management. But different investors are dismantling positions in the company in recent months. Bloomberg data shows that Tropico Latin America Investments sold 8,600 shares (zeroing out the position) in May, followed by Banco do Brasil, which sold 6,000, and BTG Pactual, which sold 17,700 last month.
“I know we have a long way to go and, with the accelerated process of the digitalization of the market, we are building a brand of reference and wide recognition for hiring online services in Brazil, through a horizontal business model that is differentiated in this segment”
Eduardo L’Hotellier, GetNinjas CEO
Another relevant shareholder of the company told Bloomberg Línea on condition of anonymity that they will sell the stakes at some point, but not now when prices are low.
In a report on the company, JP Morgan believes GetNinjas could hit breakeven soon, helped by high interest on its cash position. The company had R$290 million (455.4 million) in cash at the end of the first quarter. The market value of the company was R$ 129 million on Friday (June 24).
Asked by Bloomberg Línea, GetNinjas CEO Eduardo L’Hotellier said he does not discuss guidance in detail, but that the general idea of interest in helping the company’s cash position makes sense.
“The services sector is huge and represents about 70% of GDP [Gross Domestic Product], according to IBGE [Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics], and we only have 0.1% penetration through the platform [in Gross Merchandise Value],” the CEO said in an email.
“I know we have a long way to go and, with the accelerated process of the digitalization of the market, we are building a brand of reference and wide recognition for hiring online services in Brazil, through a horizontal business model that is differentiated in this segment,” he said.
L’Hotellier said he sold a small part of his shares in GetNinjas as part of the initial public offering about a year ago. “The biggest gain was having a company with a solid cash position in such a difficult market moment - my biggest asset is the shares I own of GetNinjas.”
-- With information from Bloomberg News
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