Flopped Listings Leave Latin America Firms Orphaned in the US

Investment bankers came up with an irresistible pitch about six years ago to entice Latin American companies to list in the US — the deep pockets of investors and their familiarity with new economy stocks.

With interest rates at historically low levels, Wall Street saw an unprecedented wave of listings from the region, from StoneCo Ltd. — that lured Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Alibaba’s billionaire founder Jack Ma — to PagSeguro Digital Ltd, whose business model was similar to Jack Dorsey’s Square. Dazzled by astonishing valuations and blockbuster deals, many smaller firms followed.

But reality ...