Big time.

Chilean stock brokerage Larrain Vial has made history--sort of. The boutique financial company recently helped a Chilean supermarket chain issue equity on U.S. markets, the first South American financial institution ever, it says, to have a hand in underwriting an equity issue there without help from a big U.S. bank. The brokerage's client, Chilean supermarket chain operator Distribucion y Servicio (DyS), raised US$250 million in its offering. Of that, $216 million was held back in Chile or sold in Europe while $34 million was sold in the United States as American Depositary Receipts, which are used to trade foreign stocks in more-liquid U.S. markets. Since U.S. law doesn't allow Larrain Vial to sell the equity on its own--it has no U.S. presence--the supermarket sold the shares itself under the counsel of Larrain Vial. For the brokerage, the sale was a milestone. It also means the issue was small by U.S. standards. "We did this without a foreign investment bank because the size of the deal was a bit large for Chile but not large enough for two investment banks," says Jose Miguel Barros, a director at Larrain Vial. Once Chilean investors took what they wanted, the leftovers were not enough to bring a major investment bank to the table, says Barros. U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley was going to do the deal but pulled out, he says. Larrain Vial proceeded with the issue on demand in domestic markets. "DyS knew us and trusted us," Barros says. "It is difficult to convince other people who know you less."