Revista Latin Trade articles from April 2002

Revista Latin Trade archives from April 2002

Buying for tomorrow. (Editor's Note).
April 1, 2002... Markets always rise higher than anybody hopes and fall farther than anybody fears. But can Latin America's companies get any cheaper than they are right now? As this month's cover story explains, some big players think prices have bottomed...

Letters.
April 1, 2002... Pre-freeze Funds? In the January 2002 issue on the top 100 pension funds, I noticed that 11 of them were from Argentina. Are those the same funds that weeks later put a freeze on the country's bank accounts while they converted their...

Bimbo heads North. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... Mexican bread-making giant Grupo Bimbo is expanding its presence north of the border thanks to a US$610 million deal expected to double the company's revenues in the United States. The world's third-largest bread maker bought the western United...

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE U.S. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION approved construction of the US$146 million North Baja Pipeline to transport U.S. natural gas to power plants in northern Mexico.

Wells Fargo. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... WELLS FARGO, a San Francisco-based bank, launched a money-transfer service aimed at capturing a slice of the estimated US$8 billion in remittances sent home annually by Mexicans living in the United States.

Admira. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... ADMIRA, the entertainment arm of Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica, is teaming with Disney's Buena Vista International to create Miravista, a Latin America-focused movie production company. Miravista's first movie films this year.

TV Azteca. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... TV AZTECA, Mexico's No. 2 television company, took minority stakes in five television stations in the southern U.S. states with large Mexican populations. The value of the deal was not disclosed. It forms part of TV Azteca's effort to increase...

Yahoo! (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... YAHOO!, a California-based Internet company, bought top Brazilian search engine Cade? from Latin American portal StarMedia for an undisclosed sum. StarMedia was given notice Feb. 1 that it was delisted from the Nasdaq stock market.

Valeo. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... VALEO, a French auto parts manufacturer, closed its plant in Buenos Aires province and will transfer production to Brazil.

The International Monetary Fund. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND extended the payment deadline to early 2003 for US$936 million in debt. The Argentine government had announced it would not be able to make the payment in 2002.

Repsol-YPF. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... REPSOL-YPF, a Spanish-Argentine oil company, sold its assets in Indonesia to Chinese oil company Cnooc for US$585 million. Cnooc is China's No. 3 oil company.

Banco Santander Central Hispano. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO, a Spanish bank, invested US$245 million to boost its stake in Banco Rio de la Plata to 97%.

Banamex. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BANAMEX, the Mexican unit of New York-based financial conglomerate Citigroup, sold its stake in money-losing Argentine subsidiary Bansud to Banco Macro. The transaction allows Banamex to exit the crisis-ridden country.

The Argentine Unit. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE ARGENTINE UNIT of U.S. based Nextel Communications failed to make a US$8.3 million debt payment.

Kraft Foods. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... KRAFT FOODS, the largest food company in the United States, opened a US$7 million sales and administrative center in Buenos Aires province.

Impsat Fiber Networks. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... IMPSAT FIBER NETWORKS, an Argentine telecommunications start-up, missed a US$14 million interest payment on its debt.

Keppel. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... KEPPEL, a Singapore-based conglomerate, won a US$400 million contract to supply electricity to northeastern Brazil.

Gerdau. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... GERDAU, a Brazilian steel maker which operates in the United States through its AmeriSteel Corp. subsidiary, bought the Birmingham Southeast steel facility in Cartersville, Alabama, for an undisclosed sum. At home, Gerdau paid US$209 million to...

Endesa. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... ENDESA, a Spanish energy giant, is spending US$207 million through its Latin American unit Enersis to build a 310-megawatt power plant in Pecem, Ceara state.

Varig. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... VARIG, Brazil's largest airline, spun off its airline maintenance unit to create Varig Engenharia e Manutencao and boost revenues.

Tam. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... TAM, Brazil's No. 2 airline, suspended six international flights and laid off 200 workers in a cost-cutting bid.

Dilson Prado Da Fonseca. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... DILSON PRADO DA FONSECA, a Brazilian businessman, failed in his bid to gain control of struggling airline Transbrasil. Authorities alleged Prado da Fonseca had not paid income taxes in recent years and also alleged he might be a front for a...

Bayer. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BAYER, a German chemicals giant, fired 150 employees and announced the closure of its plastics plant in northeastern Brazil.

Borland Software. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BORLAND SOFTWARE of San Francisco, California, bought Brazilian information technology company Advanced Training Center for an undisclosed sum.

AIC Limited. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... AIC LIMITED, a Toronto fund management company owned by Jamaican-born billionaire Michael Lee Chin, purchased a 75% stake in Jamaican government-owned National Commercial Bank for US$134 million.

Royal Ahold. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... ROYAL AHOLD, a Dutch food giant, joined Guatemalan partner La Fragua and Costa Rican supermarket operator CSU to launch a venture called Central American Retail Holding Company, or Carhco.

Lockheed Martin. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE GOVERNMENT will purchase 10 F-16 fighter jets from U.S.-based Lockheed Martin for US$500 million. The controversial deal marks one of the largest U.S. arms sales to Latin America in recent history.

Hochtief. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... HOCHTIEF, a German construction company, leads a consortium that won a US$451 million contract from the government of Chile to design, build and operate the Americo Vespucio Norte highway in Santiago.

Growth spurt. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... Banco Bradesco is growing in leaps and bounds in Brazil after posting record profits for 2001. Brazil's second largest bank saw its net income surge 28% to more than US$900 million, shocking analysts who predicted the bank would suffer from...

Problems at Pemex. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is under the microscope following allegations that Mexico's state-run petroleum company, in conjunction with the oil workers union, funneled some US$100 million in union funds into PRI political party coffers during...

Colo Colo. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... COLO COLO, one of Chile's most popular soccer clubs, filed for bankruptcy after failing to make payment on its US$30 million debt.

The United States. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE UNITED STATES will provide US$98 million in aid to help Colombia protect the Cano Limon oil pipeline from guerrilla attacks. The 480-mile pipeline connects oil fields in Colombia's interior to the country's Caribbean coast.

Local authorities. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... LOCAL AUTHORITIES found US$41 million in counterfeit U.S. dollars inside a house in Bogota. It was the largest seizure ever of counterfeit dollars in Colombia.

Chivor. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... CHIVOR, the Colombian unit of AES and the country's fourth-largest power generator, defaulted on debt payments. The debt amount was not made public.

Industrias Alimenticias Noel. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... INDUSTRIAS ALIMENTICIAS NOEL, one of Colombia's largest meat processing companies, will buy local rival Rica Rondo for an undisclosed sum.

Wendy. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... WENDY'S, an Ohio-based hamburger restaurant chain, is closing its three Colombian eateries, all of which are in Bogota.

Kerr-McGee. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... KERR-MCGEE, an Oklahoma-based oil company, sold its oil exploration blocks and its 4% stake in the $1.1 billion OCP pipeline in Ecuador to France's Perenco for an undisclosed sum.

President Vicente Fox. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX announced a US$7.9 billion highway construction plan involving more than 7,000 kilometers of new roads.

Citigroup. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... CITIGROUP, the New York financial services conglomerate that owns Mexico's Banamex, bought the local life insurance and pension fund businesses of Dutch insurance company Aegon for US$1.24 billion.

Controladora Comercial Mexicana. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... CONTROLADORA COMERCIAL MEXICANA, one of Mexico's largest retailers, will boost spending 13% to US$135 million in 2002 in an effort to compete with the country's No.1 retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico.

ATSI Communications. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... ATSI COMMUNICATIONS, a San Antonio telecommunications provider, reached an interconnection agreement with five Mexican telecom providers, including giant Telefonos de Mexico.

Burlington Industries. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BURLINGTON INDUSTRIES, a North Carolina textile company facing bankruptcy, will lay off 1,200 workers in Mexico.

Standard & Poor. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... STANDARD & POOR'S, the international rating agency, gave an "investment-grade" rating to Mexico's sovereign debt, underlining the country's economic soundness. Since Mexico reformed its tax system in December, government officials had awaited...

Diageo. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... DIAGEO, a British beverage company, reached an out-of-court settlement with the world's biggest tequila maker, Jose Cuervo in Mexico. Diageo will return its 45% stake in Jose Cuervo along with US$145 million; in exchange, the British company...

Prudential. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... PRUDENTIAL, one of the world's largest insurance companies, paid IXE Grupo Financiero US$128 million for a 50% stake in Mexico's seventh largest pension fund, Afore XXI. The Mexican Social Security Institute owns the other half of Afore XXI.

Pepsico. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... PEPSICO, the world's No. 2 soft drink maker, failed in its bid to acquire Mexican juice maker Jugos del Valle. Pepsi wanted the company as a strategy to cut into the market strong-hold of archrival Coca-Cola.

Ernesto Zedillo. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... ERNESTO ZEDILLO, former president of Mexico, was named to the board of directors of Pittsburgh aluminum giant Alcoa. Zedillo also serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble and Union Pacific Corp.

America Movil. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... AMERICA MOVIL, the wireless spin-off of Mexican telecommunications company Telmex, has gone to court to block part of a recent tax reform measure that slapped a 10% tax hike on some of its services. America Movil recently sold its assets in...

OCE. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... OCE, a Dutch printer, bought GE Access Printing Solutions, the Mexican unit of GE Capital Information Technology Solutions.

Black & Decker. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... BLACK & DECKER, a U.S. manufacturer of power tools, will transfer some production to Mexico in a cost-cutting move.

IMF's pick. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... The Argentine government has assuaged the International Monetary Fund by naming Mario Blejer as president of the South American country's Central Bank. Blejer, a 20-year IMF veteran, returned to Argentina only last year to work under...

The International Finance Corp. (IFC). (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORP. (IFC), a part of the World Bank, loaned US$5 million to Banco de la Microempresa (Mibanco), a small bank that specializes in micro finance. The IFC may post its first-ever loss due to exposure to Argentina's...

The Inter-American Development Bank. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK will loan the government US$400 million to help balance its budget, decentralize government administration and increase social spending.

PDVSA. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... PDVSA began a US$375 million offshore drilling project to find and exploit natural gas reserves. The drilling area borders Trinidad and Tobago.

Toyo Engineering Corp. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... TOYO ENGINEERING CORP., based in Japan, won a US$90 million oil refining contract from state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa).

Diosdado Cabello. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... DIOSDADO CABELLO, a retired military colonel, replaced leftist academic Adina Bastidas as Venezuela's vice president in another cabinet shuffle orchestrated by President Hugo Chavez. Bastidas became head of the ministry of trade and industry....

Ignacio Arcaya. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... IGNACIO ARCAVA, Venezuela's ambassador to the United States and a veteran career diplomat, resigned after less than a year on the job.

It's the law. (Panorama).
April 1, 2002... TRADE The World Trade Organization ruled that Canada violated trade subsidy rules when it granted low-interest loans to a customer of Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier. The ruling found in favor of Brazil, which has disputed the subsidies...

Tarmac trouble. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... Mexico City's new US$2.2 billion airport plan will allow three times as many passengers to fly into the country. Then why is the good idea being treated so badly? For starters, Mexico's leading business chamber fears the Texcoco airport...

Pool party. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... Building a beach and swimming pool in the Ramos neighborhood on Rio de Janeiro's gritty north side could be described as the first step in a beaches-for-the-people program.The 30-million-liter pool has made such a huge splash that the project's...

Stock market performances in 2001. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... The U.S. stock market nabbed the spotlight for sorry behavior in 2001, but markets elsewhere--including Mexico and Chile--fared well. Even Argentina wasn't at the bottom of the heap. That honor went to Finland. [Graph omitted]

Soldiering on. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... Mexican President Vicente Fox has released, but not pardoned, Gen. Jose Francisco Gallardo, an army officer sentenced to 28 years in jail for corruption-trumped-up charges, his backers say, sparked by Gallardo's call for an ombudsman to monitor...

Crushing poverty. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... The poor will always be with us, according to the Bible. Not so, says Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government could win the war on poverty within a decade, development experts say, if it would tap into the Sistema de Informacion Poblacion...

The big picture. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... THE BIG PICTURE LATIN TRADE'S Consensus Forecast as of January 2002 REAL GDP INFLATION % change % change 2000 2001E 2002F ...

Mickey's long shadow.
April 1, 2002... About six years ago, Argentine Diego Lerner helped create film producer Patagonik in his home country. Emboldened by its success, Walt Disney's head of Latin America recently formed Miravista, a joint venture with Telefonica's media subsidiary...

Credit Lyonnais expands presence in Brazil. (Special Advertising Feature).
April 1, 2002... With the formation of Banco Credit Lyonnais Brasil, one of the world's major banking institutions has significantly expanded its presence in Brazil. With offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, Banco Credit Lyonnais Brasil...

Rotting from the inside: Free market pains? No, Argentina's problems spring from a culture of corruption. (Trade Talk).
April 1, 2002... Days after the Argentine government voiced its support for the peso, Abel Edreira, a farm equipment salesman, sat in his Rosario office and brooded. While analysts solemnly speculated about the failure of the free market, Edreira had a simpler...

Cutting edge: Brazil's Amazon loggers--aiming for green markets--tilt toward certified wood. (Resources).
April 1, 2002... Industrial timber operations stretching the length of the Amazon are revamping operations at considerable cost to meet stricter environmental standards. That's because, increasingly, European consumers want only wood certified as forest...

Will build for food: Argentina's construction industry skids to a halt as credit and investors disappear. (Construction).
April 1, 2002... A long Maipu Avenue in Buenos Aires, the skeletal hulks of unfinished buildings loom over rush-hour traffic like so many steel vultures, eerie reminders of the deadly effects of Argentina's moribund economy on the local construction industry....

Big players: Global recession, scarce financing and devaluations have nailed most companies to the wall, but not all. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2002... Brutal market conditions level weak and strong companies alike in Latin America. Companies default on international debts. Major multinationals corporations that have gorged on acquisitions now suffer from indigestion. Private equity funds lurk...

Refining mining: Roger Agnelli wants to grind iron and other ores into businesses with stable prices and long-term contracts. Here's how. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2002... For most of 1990s, Roger Agnelli advised people buying and selling Brazilian steel and mining companies, among the world's largest. But the life of the former Banco Bradesco capital markets division chief changed in 2000 when he became chairman...

No. 1 wants more. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2002... Following record profits in 2001, Bradesco shows no sign of slowing down. Brazil's largest private bank kicked off 2002 with the purchases of Banco Mercantil, Banco do Estado do Amazonas and the local asset management area of Deutsche Bank. At...

Citigroup's self help. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2002... Within the pool of mergers and acquisitions advisers in 2001, Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney took top honors in Latin America thanks to its own US$12.8 billion acquisition of Grupo Financiero Banamex Accival (Banacci), Mexico's largest...

Top 100 Mergers & Acquisitions in Latin American.
April 1, 2002... Top 100 Mergers & Acquisitions in Latin American Ranked by value in US$ millions RK TARGET COMPANY TARGET '01 COUNTRY 1 Banacci Mexico 2...

Missing the boat: Why aren't Brazilian exports surging? Infrastructure. (Logistics Report).
April 1, 2002... Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca sat in an audience of executives a few years ago when the Brazilian government launched an ambitious challenge: to double exports to US$100 billion by 2003. Now executive director of the government-run Camera de...

Where's the boom?
April 1, 2002... Although the currencies of Brazil and Argentina have devalued considerably in recent months, there's no sign of an export boom on the horizon. Exports in 2002 are poised to grow only 4.7% in Brazil and 8.6% in Argentina, according to an...

Light speed. (Connection).
April 1, 2002... Where's your business information going? Straight to the Web, where sales people need it. Moving data around an organization-and the planet-is key to the international designs of Latin America's prowling conglomerates. That means traffic....

Get smart: The dawning of a new age in financial techology takes root in rural Bolivia. (Connection).
April 1, 2002... The bus trip La Paz to the small market town of Batallas is just 60 kilometers, but in Bolivia that's enough to take you back centuries. Modem life in the country's capital melts away to scenes of native Aymarans guiding ox-drawn plows across...

Gear box. (Connection).
April 1, 2002... TOSHIBA SD-P1500 Portable DVD player Price: US$999 retail www.toshiba.com * The Good A 20.3-centimeter screen is pretty good for a portable DVD unit (it was the largest portable unit screen when released), but running is where the...

Nerd nation. (Connection).
April 1, 2002... Not too many years ago, the developed world hoped Latin America might some day hit 10 telephones per 100 persons--a "teledensity" of 10%. How times have changed: If you count cellular lines as phone lines and add them to traditional phones,...

Port(AL). (Cyber Surf).
April 1, 2002... www.comexnet.com.br (Portuguese) CONTENT * DESIGN ** NAVIGATION *** OVERALL **** Unless you go to the lengths of actually filling out the forms for trade finance or legal support, there's not much here but common sense...

Innocents Abroad. (Cyber Surf).
April 1, 2002... www.mequieroir.com (Spanish) CONTENT * DESIGN *** NAVIGATION * OVERALL **** Young people looking for work abroad might find Mequieroir a reassuring starting point. Yes, it's possible. Yes, it's fun and interesting. A lot...

Crossroads. (Cyber Surf).
April 1, 2002... www.artnexus.com (Spanish, English) CONTENT * DESIGN *** NAVIGATION *** OVERALL *** Nice design, and plenty to look at. Art works scroll by and can be enlarged. Other art sites are more complex, but Artnexus, like the...

All lined up: Colombia's top two airlines team to withstand a withering market. (Trade Lanes).
April 1, 2002... Airlines across Latin America are struggling with severe market conditions, but nowhere is the challenge greater than Colombia. To the carriers' problems with declining passenger and cargo traffic, hijackings and faltering economic conditions,...