AGI IPO: Brazilian smart bank goes public on NYSE

Preliminary trading in shares of Brazilian consumer bank AGI, which specializes in loans secured by social benefits, began on the Freedom customer trading system. AGI offers loans and advances to private clients, fixed income bonds and loans to financial institutions. Later on Feb. 11, the company's securities will appear on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AGBK.

Brazilian bank AGI raised $240 million in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. It offered 20 million shares at $12 - with an initially announced price range of $15-18, Bloomberg reports .

Just a few hours before the listing AGI reduced the range to $12-13 and halved the planned IPO volume - initially the bank was going to place 43.6 million securities. The company made this decision amid a 20% drop in shares of its competitor - Brazilian fintech PicPay, Bloomberg explains . This digital platform for SMB customers went public in late January, making it the first company from Brazil to make a meaningful debut in the U.S. in more than four years. It raised $434 million.

Based on the results of AGI's IPO, the value of the entire bank can be estimated at $1.9 billion, Bloomberg calculated.

The placement was organized by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bradesco BBI, BTG Pactual, Itaú BBA, Santander, Societe General and XP Investments.

The company was founded by Brazilian businessman Marciano Testa in 1999. In 2016, it received a full banking license and the name Agibank, Reuters writes.

The bank's focus is on payroll deduction loans and loans related to social benefits. Its target audience is retirees, welfare recipients and employees with fixed salaries, a segment that AGI believes traditional banks and digital competitors under-serve, Reuters points out. The fintech company combines digital service with a network of about 1,100 offline locations, Bloomberg writes.

By September 2025, the number of AGI's active users in Brazil grew nearly 80% year-over-year to 6.4 million. Over the past 12 months, the company's net income totaled R$1.1 billion (about $210 million) and its return on equity reached about 41%, AGI said in a prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In December 2025, Brazil's National Social Insurance Institute temporarily halted the registration of new payday loans with AGI. The reason for this was identified irregularities, including the execution of contracts without the explicit consent of clients and other discrepancies. The restrictions were later lifted: the bank complied with the regulator's requirements for additional controls and regained the ability to issue loans.

AGI's offering follows the IPO of another Brazilian digital bank, PicPay, in late January. That said, the previous few years have been years of weak equity capital market activity in Brazil, Bloomberg notes. The last notable local company to go public in the U.S. was Nu Holdings, which owns Latin America's largest digital bank, Nubank. It listed in 2021.

"Demand is there and there should be a number of deals in Brazil in the first quarter," said Malcolm Dorson, senior portfolio manager at Global X Management. Brazilian issuers are "taking advantage of the window of opportunity" ahead of the presidential election in October, he said. Investors are showing growing interest in the region, and now is a favorable time to float on international markets before political or economic instability could affect valuations, Dorson explained.

The bank's hybrid model - a combination of digital services and offices, social security accreditation and the use of AI - allows AGI to rapidly increase its loan portfolio and improve efficiency, says Donovan Jones, an analyst at IPO Edge Investment Group. At the same time, the main risks for the company are related to regulatory measures, dependence on the inflow of clients through social insurance, negative free cash flow and unstable economic and currency situation in Brazil, Seeking Alpha quotes Jones as saying.

According to Freedom analyst Alem Bektemirov, the growth potential of AGI shares is about 20%. He attributed the main risks to competition in the market, regulation and dependence on the National Institute of Social Insurance of the country.

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Freedom clients will be able to get access to AGI shares before the opening of the main exchange session. Trading will begin in the early pre-market format 2-3 hours before the opening of the US exchanges (from 15:30-16:30 Astana time). To participate click on ticker AGBK.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor