The most attractive fixed income push companies like Mercado Livre to use CDBs to raise money

Anyone who has been looking at the shelves of fixed income brokerage and investment platforms in recent months must have noticed that they are more complete and diverse. Higher interest rates have drawn investors to investments such as CDBs (Certificados de Depósito Bancário) – a demand not only noted by traditional banks, but also by companies that previously focused on other sectors.

This is the case of Mercado Livre, which has invested heavily in CDBs to raise funds and fund its activities.

Between January and May alone, the company’s CDB issuance totaled R$5.1 billion – nearly R$5.5 billion verified between March 2021 (when this type of funding began) and December. The issuer of the papers is Mercado Crédito SCFI, the corporate finance firm.

“It’s a smart way to raise money quickly. More companies are discovering this form of financing,” says Catherine Menezes, head of personalization at Braúna Investimentos, whose move – already implemented by retail chains like Pernambucanas – appears to represent a trend. . “Companies get this loan via CDBs at lower rates than if they issue bonds, because they are guaranteed by the FGC [Fundo Garantidor de Crédito]”.

Thiago Azevedo, CFO of Mercado Livre in Brazil, explains that the main goal of raising funds with CDBs is to provide working capital for platform sellers. The executive notes that in the case of a sale in installments, for example, Mercado Livre is able to pay the money to the store owner in one or two business days with this financing.

The issues also serve to give credit to users of the platform, especially on the credit card of Mercado Pago, a financial technology company affiliated with Mercado Livre. In the past three months, funding averaged about R$1.1 billion per month.

Among CDBs and other products, such as Letras Financeiras and interbank office operations, Mercado Livre currently has a position of R$5.3 billion, a value that, according to Azevedo, the company expects to double by the end of the year.

Development banks based on inflation-related and short-term development

The company has also adapted the conditions to the tastes of the investors. CFO Tiago Azevedo recalls that the first issues offered a CDI (Constant Income Reference) rate as well as a Spread, or an additional fee as compensation. But as interest in products that offer inflation protection has increased, the free market has also begun to issue papers indexed to the broad national consumer price index (IPCA).

We will maintain both ways. What we saw was a lot of interest in IPCA-related CDBs, but more demand for CDI Spread As Azevedo says.

Mercado Livre has also prioritized credit cards for the short term, three to six months — because of the (lower) cost and use you make of the money you collect. Operations focus on financing closed deals on the platform and using credit cards.

“It doesn’t make sense to have a CBD that long. Due to market dynamics, short-term liquidity and margins From the daily liquidity assets are cheaper. “There is more flexibility and the fees are usually not very high,” Azevedo says.

What are the risks?

For the experts who heard it InfomoneyHowever, it is important for an investor to be careful and to choose diversification of issuers when investing in CDB to reduce risk.

Although e-commerce is the company’s core business, the issuer, financial planner Merian Lund recalls, is a finance company, with equity separate from e-commerce.

Miriam also draws attention to the fact that CDBs are covered by the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC), which amounts to R$250,000 per investor (CPF) and per financial institution, with a maximum of R$1 million revolving in four years, in case of problems such as the intervention of The central bank of the enterprise.

But she cautions: If the issuer fails, the funds are held for a period and there is no income received on the order during that period. “The ideal is to diversify the issuers,” he says.

looking forward to evaluation

credit risk rating of the enterpriseevaluationIt should also be closely monitored. The chart says the ideal is for investors to look for institutions with them evaluation AAA, AA, A and BBB, since products from BB are speculative and tend to be riskier.

Mercado Crédito SCFI, the issuer of Mercado Livre CDBs, has evaluation AAA by Fitch Ratings, which is considered the highest quality standard. “Even in retail, Mercado Livre has managed to create a profile tracking [monitoramento] Thus, it is easier to measure your credit risk,” says Catherine, of Braúna Investimentos.

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Bonus type: how to choose?

In addition to looking at the issuer’s risk rating, the investor should check whether the intended CDB is a fixed rate, floating rate, or inflation-linked.

In a scenario of high inflation and high interest rates, Camilla Dolly of XP Investimentos notes that there is room for all three types of indexes in investors’ portfolios. “The point is the dose,” he says.

The XP specialist prefers inflation-linked and cash-indexed bonds, which should account for most of the allocation. The first ensures protection of purchasing power and equity, while the second is restricted to a rate that should remain high in the short term.

However, Camila draws attention to the fact that the yield curve is inverted. Therefore, shorter interest rates are higher than longer interest rates. In that case, he says, it’s best to calculate your income tax to see if it’s really worth choosing short-term bonds.

Another detail is the risk of reinvestment. Camilla says that if investors buy very short bonds, as CDBs mature, it may be difficult to find other bonds offering the same price.

In the XP forecast, the Selic rate should end in 2022 at 13.75% per annum and drop to 8.75% in 2023. Therefore, the ideal situation is for the investor to invest the money with a clear goal in mind so as not to suffer later with the risk of re-running. investment.

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