MercadoLibre IPO set at 16M shares

WASHINGTON --Argentina's MercadoLibre Inc. on Friday set the terms of its U.S. initial public offering at 16 million shares, with an estimated, per-share price range of $16 to $18.

The online trading company is selling 2.6 million shares, and certain stockholders will sell 13.5 million shares in the IPO, according to an amended prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

MercadoLibre and the selling stockholders have granted the IPO underwriters an option to buy up to 2.4 million additional shares to cover overallotments.

At the high end of the estimated price range, the company now expects to raise up to $332.8 million from the IPO, well above the $100 million it said it expected to bring in when it registered its original IPO in May.

EBay Inc. currently owns a 19.5 percent stake in MercadoLibre, but the online auctioneer isn't planning to sell any shares in the offering, according to the prospectus filed Friday.

MercadoLibre said it intends to use the net proceeds from the IPO to repay about $9.3 million outstanding on a loan from eBay and the remainder for general corporate purposes.

The company has applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market, under the symbol MELI.

JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch & Co., RBC Capital Markets and Pacific Crest Securities are underwriting the IPO.