Revista Latin Trade articles from September 2001

Revista Latin Trade archives from September 2001

Message in a Bottle.
September 1, 2001... ARGENTINE ECONOMY MINISTER DOMINGO CAVALLO IS furiously working the levers to get the country back on track, but people's patience is wearing dangerously thin. As this month's cover story shows, populism and protectionism now vie with private...

LETTERS.
September 1, 2001... Boycott Citgo I READ WITH GREAT INTEREST AND SKEPTIcism the (June 2001) interview that reporter Matthew Estevez had with the newly installed president of Citgo, the subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned Pdvsa. I say skepticism because while...

CORRECTION.
September 1, 2001... Our "Back to School" article (August 2001) referred incorrectly to Columbia University's U.K. partner in its executive MBA program. It should have said the London Business School.

POLISHING PERU.
September 1, 2001... Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo is counting on new Finance Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to help him continue the country's free-market policies. Kuczynski, the third finance minister in just over a year, was welcomed by international...

ENDESA.
September 1, 2001... ENDESA, a Spanish power company, will invest US$350 million to build a 1,000megawatt power line linking Argentina and BraziL

UNIVISION.
September 1, 2001... UNIVISION, a Spanish-language television network for U.S. Hispanics, paid US$190 million for two Puerto Rican television stations owned by U.S.-based Raycom Media. Univision also bought rights for more than 1,100 hours of programming from...

T1MSN.
September 1, 2001... T1MSN, an online joint venture between Mexico's Telmex and U.S. software giant Microsoft, bought Latin American Internet portal Yupi for an undisclosed sum.

THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION.
September 1, 2001... THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION dismissed a complaint by California grape growers that Chile and Mexico were dumping grapes on the U.S. market.

PATAGON.COM.
September 1, 2001... PATAGON.COM, a Latin American financial services Web site owned by Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano, will launch services in Germany through Santander subsidiary Direkt Bank. Santander recently boosted its ownership in Patagon to 87%,...

360NETWORKS.
September 1, 2001... 360NETWORKS, a Canadian underwater cable company with a presence in Latin America, laid off 800 employees, or 45% of its workforce, citing the "tough telecommunications environment."

THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK.
September 1, 2001... THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK loaned the government US$502 million to bolster the country's financial services sector.

AUREA.
September 1, 2001... AUREA, a Spanish highway operator, paid US$121 million to increase its stake in Argentina's Ausol to 45%. Aurea is controlled by Spanish construction company Dragados.

BANCO DE GALICIA.
September 1, 2001... BANCO DE GALICIA, the largest private bank in Argentina, will buy the Argentine consumer banking business of AEN Amro Holding, a Dutch bank. The US$57 million purchase gives Banco de Galicia 11% of Argentina's banking market.

IMPSAT.
September 1, 2001... IMPSAT, an Argentina-based provider of broadband services, will buy US$33 million in telecommunications equipment from Lucent Technologies under a three-year agreement.

NORANDA.
September 1, 2001... NORANDA, a Canadian mining company bought El Pachon copper mine in Argentina from Canadian mining company Cambior and Bolivia's Minera. Noranda paid US$30 million.

NISSAN MOTOR.
September 1, 2001... NISSAN MOTOR, Japan's No. 3 automaker, signed a US$20 million partnership with the Argentine unit of French automaker Renault to sell Nissan vehicles through 20 new dealerships in Argentina.

EL SITIO.
September 1, 2001... EL SITIO, a Latin American Web site, eliminated its online shopping channel Decompras.com in a cost-cutting move. And Argentine service provider Netizen bought El Sitio's Internet access assets for an undisclosed sum.

REPSOL YPF.
September 1, 2001... REPSOL YPF, a Spanish oil company, won an exploration bid from the government of Argentina for US$19 million for the Piedra Chenque zone in the province of Neuquen.

PSINET.
September 1, 2001... PSINET, a near-bankrupt U.S.-based Internet service provider, will sell its assets in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay to U.S. investment concern Cori Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.

THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND.
September 1, 2001... THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND and the World Bank approved a US$1.2 billion debt relief package for Bolivia under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

EMBRAER.
September 1, 2001... EMBRAER, a Brazilian aircraft maker, will sell as many as 100 regional jets to local airline TAM for an estimated US$800 million. Embraer recently sold shares worth $750 million to investors.

NOKIA.
September 1, 2001... NOKIA, a Finish telecommunications equipment maker, won a US$680 million contract to build a mobile-telephone net work for Brazilian telecommunications company Telemar.

JBP.
September 1, 2001... JBP, a Japanese consortium, bought the 51% stake it did not already own in Brazilian pulp company Cenibra from mining conglomerate Companhia Vale do Rio Doce for around US$670 million.

POWER CRUNCH.
September 1, 2001... Brazilians are growing impatient over the country's energy crisis. The government's severe electricity-rationing has local industry complaining about production setbacks at the same time it has sparked violent clashes between protestors and...

NEW GENERATION.
September 1, 2001... Jose Mendoza, 78, has grabbed himself a debt-free retirement. Mendoza, who resigned earlier this year as president of indebted Mexican construction company Bufete Industrial, recently sold his 32% stake in the company he founded in 1949. ...

PETROBRAS.
September 1, 2001... PETROBRAS, Brazil's state-run oil company, will receive US$497 million from insurance companies after its offshore oil platform exploded and sank in March.

CITIGROUP.
September 1, 2001... CITIGROUP is buying Brazil's Banco Mercantil do Sao Paulo for about US$400 million. The acquisition is part of Citibank's plan to boost lending and expand its client base in Latin America's largest nation.

ELBIT SYSTEMS.
September 1, 2001... ELBIT SYSTEMS, an Israeli defense contractor, won a six-year. US$230 million contract to upgrade the Brazilian Air Force's F-5 fleet. Elbit will work with Embraer on the project.

TELESP CELLULAR.
September 1, 2001... TELESP CELLULAR, Brazil's largest mobile phone company, signed a US$221 million agreement with Lucent Technologies and Motorola to expand Telesp's wireless network and to offer high-speed Internet access.

COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE.
September 1, 2001... COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE, a Brazilian mining giant, is cutting aluminum production by about 16% at its Aluminio Brasileiro smelter in the state of Para. Brazil's power rationing policy calls for aluminum companies to trim energy use by 25%.

BYK.
September 1, 2001... BYK, a German drug manufacturer, is closing its Argentine production facilities and opening a US$56 million factory in Jaguariuna, Sao Paulo state. The factory will start operations in November; exports to Argentina will begin next year.

FORD MOTOR CO.
September 1, 2001... FORD MOTOR CO., a U.S.-based automaker, recalled 9,400 Focus model cars fitted with the wrong safety belts. The recall affects 7,000 vehicles slated for sale in Brazil and 2,400 in Argentina. The recalled cars were manufactured at Ford's...

PETROBRAS.
September 1, 2001... PETROBRAS, Brazil's state-run oil company, withdrew from Cuba after exploration of a 1,000-square-kilometer area off the northern coast of the island produced nothing. Petrobras signed the exploration agreement with the Cuban government in...

LANCHILE.
September 1, 2001... LANCHILE, Chile's dominant airline, is replacing its domestic carrier Ladeco with a new brand called LanExpress. Ladeco becomes a cargo-only carrier.

COLOMBIA'S COMPETITION AUTHORITY.
September 1, 2001... COLOMBIA'S COMPETITION AUTHORITY rejected a proposed merger between local airlines Avianca and Aces, saying the union would eliminate competition for domestic flights. The airlines will appeal the decision.

AT&T LATIN AMERICA.
September 1, 2001... AT&T LATIN AMERICA, a Miami-based subsidiary of the largest U.S. telecom company, won a US$40 million contract to provide data and Internet protocol services for Colombian financial services company Aval.

MUNICH RE.
September 1, 2001... MUNICH RE, the world's largest reinsurer, bought a 20% stake in Colombian insurance company Inversura for an undisclosed sum.

THE GOVERNMENT.
September 1, 2001... THE GOVERNMENT approved construction of a US$1.1 billion oil pipeline to be built by OCP Ecuador, a venture between U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum, Kerr-McGee, Canada's Alberta Energy, Sapin's Repsol YPF and Italy's Agip. The pipeline is...

PEMEX.
September 1, 2001... PEMEX, Mexico's state-run oil company, will need US$9 billion in new investment every year, according to the company's director Raul Munoz Leos.

THE WORLD BANK.
September 1, 2001... THE WORLD BANK loaned the government US$855 million for banking and health sector reform.

ING.
September 1, 2001... ING, a Dutch banking and insurance conglomerate, boosted its stake in Mexico's largest insurance company, Seguros Comercial America, to 87%. ING bought the additional 45% for US$791 million from Mexican entrepreneur Alfonso Romo.

ALTOS HORNOS DE MEXICO.
September 1, 2001... ALTOS HORNOS DE MEXICO (Ahmsa), the country's No. 2 steel maker, reached a deal with its main creditors, U.S.-based Bank of America and Mexico's BBVA Bancomer, to inject US$530 million into the debt-ridden company in exchange for a 40% stake....

GRUPO OMNILIFE.
September 1, 2001... GRUPO OMNILIFE, a Guadalajara-based seller of nutritional products, called off a US$500 million takeover of British-based cosmetics retailer Body Shop.

ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL.
September 1, 2001... ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL, a Dutch oil conglomerate, is teaming with U.S.-based El Paso Corp. to develop a liquefied gas terminal in the eastern city of Altamira. The companies expect to invest US$300 million in the project, which will supply power to...

CARCACHA BLOCKADE.
September 1, 2001... President George Bush will fight a U.S. House of Representatives measure that seeks to block Mexican trucks from entering the United States. A North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel recently granted Mexican trucks access to U.S....

THE GOVERNMENT.
September 1, 2001... THE GOVERNMENT sold its 25% stake in Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, a railroad venture between Mexican shipping company Transportacion Maritma Mexicana and U.S. railroad operator Kansas City Southern Industries, to the venture's...

ICA-FLUOR DANIEL.
September 1, 2001... ICA-FLUOR DANIEL, a joint venture between Mexico's largest construction company, ICA, and U.S.-based Fluor Corp., won a US$159 million contract from San Diego power company Sempra Energy to build a natural gas-fueled power plant in Mexicali....

STEWART ENTERPRISES.
September 1, 2001... STEWART ENTERPRISES, a U.S.-based funeral home company, sold its Mexican operations to local company Jardines del Tiempo for US$70 million.

SAN LUIS CORP.
September 1, 2001... SAN LUIS CORP., a Mexican conglomerate, earmarked US$55 million to boost its auto parts production.

EMBOTELLADORAS ARGOS.
September 1, 2001... EMBOTELLADORAS ARGOS, a Mexican bottler and soft drink distributor, is teaming with local bottlers Proyeccion Corporativa and Empresas El Carmen to form Embotelladoras Arca to compete with the country's largest bottler, Coca-Cola Femsa.

KEMET CORP.
September 1, 2001... KEMET CORP., a U.S.-based maker of electronic equipment, laid off 1,130 employees from its plant in Matamoros.

MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL.
September 1, 2001... MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL, Japan's largest maker of consumer electronics with brands like Panasonic and JVC, invested US$15 million to establish a subsidiary in Mexico. It will begin producing vacuum cleaners and other home appliances in...

FIGHT ON THE VERIZON.
September 1, 2001... All or nothing. That's how a Venezuelan court ruled on U.S.-based Verizon Communications' bid to boost its stake in Venezuela's top telecommunications company, Cantv. Verizon is the controlling shareholder of VenWorld Telecom, which owns 40% of...

CORRUPTION ZONE.
September 1, 2001... Bolivia reigns as Latin America's most corrupt country, according to Transparency International. The organization's corruption perceptions index measures corruption seen by business people, academics and risk analysts. SOURCE: Transparency...

THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT.
September 1, 2001... THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT bank loaned the government US $250 million for fiscal reform, poverty relief and the new president's transition to power:

THE WORLD BANK.
September 1, 2001... THE WORLD BANK loaned US$150 million to the government to improve social services to the country's poor.

PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA.
September 1, 2001... PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA, the country's state-run oil company, will spend US$250 million over the next three years to drill for natural gas in the Atlantic Ocean off the Venezuelan coast.

VENEZUELAN AUTHORITIES.
September 1, 2001... VENEZUELAN AUTHORITIES are investigating Telecom Italia's US$353 million purchase of mobile phone company Digitel. Investment banking concern BBO Financial Services, which owns 10% of Digitel, charges that Telecom Italia broke the law by paying...

Bundling Concerns.
September 1, 2001... BRAZIL'S S MINISTRY OF JUSTICE IS ACCUSING MICROSOFT OF violating anti-trust laws in its drive to obtain market leadership. The ministry's Secretary of Economic Rights (SDE) says the U.S.-based company bundled its financial management...

Capitalism Camp.
September 1, 2001... DESPITE ITS NAME, LA CIUDAD DE LOS NINOS, OR CITY OF Children, in Mexico City seems to be more about corporations than kiddies. For 110 Pesos (US$11) at the product-brand theme park in the Santa Fe mall, youngsters buy their tickets at the...

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not.
September 1, 2001... Plucking daisies in search of true love? You may need to allow yourself extra time for the task now that U.S. and Mexican scientists have accomplished a botanical tour de force: They've transformed plant leaves into petals. The...

Municipal Migration.
September 1, 2001... THREE QUARTERS OF THE PEOPLE IN LATIN AMERICA LIVE IN CITIES, MAKING it the most urbanized region of the world. Brazil, alone, has 14 cities with more than 1 million residents. Nearly 90% of Argentines and 87% of Venezuelans live in urban...

Brazil Unplugged.
September 1, 2001... Brazil Unplugged Blackouts have inspired the muse in corporate leaders, who are quoting musicians or song lyrics to debate energy policy. Artist Favorite phrase Eduardo Bernini, Eletricidade "Brazil is not...

BIG BANK WATCH.
September 1, 2001... BIG BANK WATCH As of March 31, 2001 NET INCOME US$ MILLIONS IVQ00 % CHANGE IVQ99/IVQ00 BANCO DE CREDITO (PERU) 8.4 512.5 BBVA BANCOMER (MEXICO) 178.3 148.3 BANCOLOMBIA (COLOMBIA) 17.8 117.0...

BANCO DE CREDITO.
September 1, 2001... Peru's biggest bank spent three years restructuring in response to political and economic upheaval. The effort is paying off. In its latest move, the bank announced the first in a series of sales of certificates of deposit. Despite the growth,...

BBVA BANCOMER.
September 1, 2001... This Mexican bank continues boosting services while cutting costs. It launched a business-to-business service, Socios Bancomer, that allows businesses to offer online sales to their customers. And though the numbers of ATM machines in Mexico...

BANCO BRADESCO.
September 1, 2001... Income's plummeted, employees are angry over 2,600 layoffs and the bank failed to pick up the eight hydroelectric projects it wanted at a Rio de Janeiro stock exchange auction. But Bradesco isn't giving up. When the government sells 32% of iron...

It's the Law.
September 1, 2001... BANKING Mexican businessman Carlos Hank Rhon agreed to pay US$40 million to settle charges that he violated banking laws when he bought Laredo National Bancshares in Texas. The fine--payable over seven years-is one of the largest ever...

Room at the Inn.
September 1, 2001... Room at the Inn IF YOU CAN'T GET A HOTEL DISCOUNT IN LIMA, YOU AREN'T TRYING VERY HARD. The Peruvian capital and other Latin American destinations are finding it hard to keep their hotels filled--and at prices that are profitable. Cancun...

Joan of Art.
September 1, 2001... SOFIA IMBER, FOUNDER OF THE SOFIA IMBER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN CARACAS AND A RENOWNED FIGURE IN the Latin American art world, was abruptly dismissed from her position as museum director earlier this year--a victim of Venezuelan President...

Time-share Hell.
September 1, 2001... Vacation hawkers are the scourge of Baja California's Cape resort. IT WAS ON A FAMILY VACATION IN MEXICO with my wife and sons, aged 6 and 3, that I discovered the horror striking travelers in Cabo San Lucas: time-share hell. ...

Mayday! Mayday!
September 1, 2001... Aerolineas Argentinas heads for a crash landing. IF ARGENTINA'S TROUBLED FLAGSHIP AIRLINE WERE A PLANE IN flight, its oxygen masks would be dropping, its passengers panicking and its flight attendants readying for an emergency. ...

Iron Domination.
September 1, 2001... CVRD girds up its position as the world leader in iron ore. THE LEGACY OF MORE THAN 50 YEARS of state control weighed heavy on Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) following its controversial privatization in 1997. The operations of...

Business To Go.
September 1, 2001... From cocada to churros, franchises give boost to Venezuela. CARLOS SAUMA THOUGHT HE WAS ready when he created a franchise at the beginning of this year for his sweet coconut drinks known as cocadas. But he didn't expect to receive hundreds...

Just a Click Away.
September 1, 2001... Web sites put Mexicans in touch with their hometowns. A FEW YEARS AGO IN CHICAGO, COMputer programming student Jose Herrera created a modest Web site showing photos of his hometown: Las Palmas, in Durango, Mexico. Herrera, 26, soon noticed...

The Bean From Ipanema.
September 1, 2001... Brazil, the world's largest producer of coffee, targets a lucrative niche LATIN AMERICA'S COFFEE GROWERS ARE suffering through the worst global slump in a decade. In midst of this, however, a few select growers in Brazil, the world's...

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES INTERNATIONAL.
September 1, 2001... HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES INTERNATIONAL, INC.: EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND LEADERSHIP CONSULTING SERVICES LATIN AMERICA Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., the world's premier provider of senior-level executive search end leadership...

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY.
September 1, 2001... ARGENTINA SEEKS A WAY BACK TO ECONOMIC GROWTH. THE LEXICON OF WALL Street has infiltrated the daily lives of average Argentines. Right between the weather and the horse racing results, Cronica TV, a popular 24-hour news station, broadcasts...

High INTEREST.
September 1, 2001... FINANCE EXPERTS WANT GLOBAL E-BANKING. IS CORPORATE E-BANKING real? In Brazil, consumer banking over the Internet in 2000 registered 6.8 million transactions, up from 2.6 million in 1998, according to Febraban, the country's banking...

Crystal Ball.
September 1, 2001... Brazil will be the battleground for big banks. EVEN A CURSORY EXAMINATION OF THE NUMBERS LEAVES NO doubt that the future of Latin American banking growth is in Brazil. Six of LATIN TRADE'S top ten banks by assets are in the economic...

TOP 100 LATIN AMERICAN BANKS.
September 1, 2001... TOP 100 LATIN AMERICAN BANKS RANKED BY TOTAL ASSETS AS DEC. 31, 2000 TOTAL ASSETS US$ million LT'01 LT'00 ...

NO OFFER REFUSED.
September 1, 2001... IT'S AS OLD A PATTERN AS CAPITALISM ITSELF. THE BOOM and bust spending cycle is mirrored by wild growth, then mergers rule as the winners buy the losers. So what happened to the Latin tech hotshots? Instead of a rush of mergers and...

Cease Fire.
September 1, 2001... Peace breaks out on Mexico's telecom scene. Can it last? AFTER YEARS OF BITTER FIGHTING MEXICAN phone giant Telmex has opened the country's local fixed-line telephone market to competitors. What remains to be seen is if upstarts Avantel and...

Dust Buster.
September 1, 2001... Chile's Sustentable.cl aims to make clean air the bottom line. POLLUTION MIGHT NOT BE A POPULAR subject among business leaders, but it could soon be a lucrative business. Sustentable.cl, a new Chilean Web site, promises to make a good on...