Latin CEO: Executive Strategies for the Americas articles from February 2001

Latin CEO: Executive Strategies for the Americas archives from February 2001

A study in contrasts. (Letter from the Editor).
February 1, 2001... MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND in others, about the elemental changes taking place in the corporate cultures of Latin America. One of the most profound is a shift between privately held, family-run corporations and those that...

Quilmes Industrial SA (Quinsa) has made several recent acquisitions. (Regional).
February 1, 2001... Quilmes Industrial SA (Quinsa) has made several recent acquisitions. It purchased 99 percent of Argentina's Embotelladora del Interior for US$36.5 million, and now controls 84 percent of all PepsiCo drink production and sales in that country....

The region's other brewing behemoth, Brazil-based Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (Ambev). (Regional).
February 1, 2001... The region's other brewing behemoth, Brazil-based Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (Ambev), has acquired Uruguayan beer brewer and mineral water bottler Cerveceria y Malteria Paysandu for US$47 million in a joint venture with Eufra Holdings,...

Panamerican Beverages. (Regional).
February 1, 2001... Latin America's largest soft-drink bottler, Panamerican Beverages, says it will cut upwards of 3,000 jobs (8 percent of its workforce) and take US$431 million in charges as it struggles to turn around 2000's loss of US$12 million to US$14...

AES Corp. continued its aggressive buying strategy. (Regional).
February 1, 2001... AES Corp. continued its aggressive buying strategy. It has finally closed on the acquisition of Chile's Gener SA, paying more than US$1.1 billion in cash and stock for 96.5 percent of the company. In order to comply with Chilean laws that...

Telecom Italia has increased its stakes in the region. (Regional).
February 1, 2001... Telecom Italia has increased its stakes in the region. Ending months of talks, it has agreed to buy the stakes in Entel held by Chilean companies Chilquinta and Matte group for US$820 million and US$85 million, respectively, giving Telecom...

Argentina clinched a tentative deal with the International Monetary Fund. (Portfolio: Argentina).
February 1, 2001... Argentina clinched a tentative deal with the International Monetary Fund to receive a three-year, US$39.7 billion credit line that will keep it from defaulting on this year's debt obligations. Although only US$25.4 billion of the credit line...

Repsol YPF and Oiltanking of Germany will spend US$101 million on oil storage and transportation projects. (Portfolio: Argentina).
February 1, 2001... Repsol YPF and Oiltanking of Germany will spend US$101 million on oil storage and transportation projects. This includes US$57 million to construct a 78,000-cubic-yard oil tank near Buenos Aires. Repsol has also extended, by 10 years, its...

Merrill Lynch has agreed to purchase 18.5 percent of Banco Rio de la Plata from the Perez Companc family. (Portfolio: Argentina).
February 1, 2001... Merrill Lynch has agreed to purchase 18.5 percent of Banco Rio de la Plata from the Perez Companc family (a client) for US$261 million. It is expected to sell that stake to Banco Santander Central Hispano later this year, helping BSCH...

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce have finally untangled their mutual ownerships. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Companhia Siderurgica Nacional and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce have finally untangled their mutual ownerships. CSN will sell its controlling stake in CVRD to Bradespar and Previ for US$1.3 billion. Bradespar and Prey will then sell their...

Fresh from its acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Banco del Estado de Sao Paulo. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Fresh from its acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Banco del Estado de Sao Paulo (Banestado) for US$3.6 billion, Banco Santander Central Hispano has announced it will pay US$1.21 billion for the remaining shares of the bank. After 11...

Optiglobe has opened its first Internet Data Center in Sao Paulo. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... US-based Optiglobe has opened its first Internet Data Center in Sao Paulo. Optiglobe spent US$100 million to build the center, which offers Web site hosting, co-location and Internet Protocol connectivity The company plans to spend another...

Portugal Telecom has purchased the data transmission networks of Banco Bradesco and Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Portugal Telecom has purchased the data transmission networks of Banco Bradesco and Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros for US$285 million. PT will provide the banks with data transmission services that should generate US$60 million in annual revenue...

Retailer Pao de Acucar, meeting a challenge from France-based retail competitor Carrefour. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Retailer Pao de Acucar, meeting a challenge from France-based retail competitor Carrefour, will spend US$318 million this year to increase its retail space by 12 percent, add 6,000 employees, remodel older stores, introduce new technology and...

Telefonica has announced plans to spend US$1.73 billion to expand the services of Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Telefonica has announced plans to spend US$1.73 billion to expand the services of Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo this year. The company will install some 1.6 million new lines, bringing the total number in service to 13 million.

Rejecting the government's plan to end loan subsidies to Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA. (Portfolio: Brazil).
February 1, 2001... Rejecting the government's plan to end loan subsidies to Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA and resolve its ongoing trade dispute, Canada has secured World Trade Organization permission to levy US$1.4 billion in sanctions on Brazilian goods...

The world's largest brewer, US-based Anheuser-Busch. (Portfolio: Chile).
February 1, 2001... The world's largest brewer, US-based Anheuser-Busch, has purchased 14 percent of Compania Cervecerias Unidas for US$224 million. CCU has a 90 percent market share among the country's breweries. Anheuser-Busch purchased the shares from...

Incurring the wrath of trade pact Mercosur. (Portfolio: Chile).
February 1, 2001... Incurring the wrath of trade pact Mercosur, which had been negotiating with Chile, officials in Santiago began talks with the US that might bring Chile into the North American Free Trade Agreement. Brazil's government has suspended talks with...

Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary and the Rio Tinto Group. (Portfolio: Chile).
February 1, 2001... Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary and the Rio Tinto Group have approved a US$1.05 billion expansion of the country's largest privately owned copper mine, Minera Escondida. The plan had been in limbo until the partnership signed a US$137...

InterAmerican Development Bank. (Portfolio: Costa Rica).
February 1, 2001... The InterAmerican Development Bank has approved a US$65 million loan for the country to modernize and secure a system of property rights registration and administration. Work will focus on creating a new and improved national registry, which...

Ending a three-decade-long tradition, the military will no longer receive a 45 percent share of the government's oil royalties. (Portfolio: Ecuador).
February 1, 2001... Ending a three-decade-long tradition, the military will no longer receive a 45 percent share of the government's oil royalties. Congress has passed legislation that will stop the payments, estimated at more than US$400 million in 2000, at the...

International Monetary Fund. (Portfolio: El Salvador).
February 1, 2001... The US dollar has been approved as a second currency in the country, fixed at a US$1 to 8.75 colon rate. The International Monetary Fund has indicated its support for the new law, and is expected to offer the country financial support for the...

Congress approved legislation that makes the US dollar a second legal currency, beginning in May. (Portfolio: Guatemala).
February 1, 2001... Congress approved legislation that makes the US dollar a second legal currency, beginning in May. Wages may be paid in dollars, and accounts and financial transactions may be denominated in dollars, although the quetzal will continue to be...

Telefonos de Mexico has agreed to cut the fees it charges Avantel SA and Alestra SA to connect to its network. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... In what may be the end of a long-running dispute, Telefonos de Mexico has agreed to cut the fees it charges Avantel SA and Alestra SA to connect to its network. Fees will fall to US 1.25 cents per minute (from US 3.36 cents per minute), as...

Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SA has purchased Dacotah Cement. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SA has purchased Dacotah Cement of the US for US$252 million.

Conglomerate Grupo Sidek, struggling under a heavy debt load. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... Conglomerate Grupo Sidek, struggling under a heavy debt load, has sold its Simec unit to Industrias CH for US$285 million, including Simec debt.

Grupo Televisa has invested US$80 million in its portal Esmas to save the site from bankruptcy. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... As ailing Internet sites close down worldwide, Grupo Televisa has invested US$80 million in its portal Esmas to save the site from bankruptcy. In its "old media" empire, antitrust regulators have blocked Televisa's US$101 million bid to buy...

President Vicente Fox Quesada has named former Dupont Mexico. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... In a move that has been widely applauded, new President Vicente Fox Quesada has named former Dupont Mexico President Raul Munoz to head Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

Citibank and the Institute for the Protection of Savings (IPAB) have settled a recent dispute. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... Citibank and the Institute for the Protection of Savings (IPAB) have settled a recent dispute. When the IPAB prepaid a US$2.5 billion promissory note that Citibank had bought along with the Confia bank, Citibank sued to stop the prepayment,...

Banco Santander Central Hispano revealed that it has been working since August to lower the price it agreed to pay the IPAB for Banco Serfin. (Portfolio: Mexico).
February 1, 2001... In other bank privatization news, Banco Santander Central Hispano revealed that it has been working since August to lower the price it agreed to pay the IPAB for Banco Serfin. While BSCH won Serfin at auction with its bid of US$1.5 billion,...

NBK Bank, with US$657 million in assets and US$343 million in outstanding loans. (Portfolio: Peru).
February 1, 2001... Continued weakening in the financial sector has led the government to seize several institutions, including NBK Bank, with US$657 million in assets and US$343 million in outstanding loans; Banco del Nuevo Mundo (which it closed), which had...

A legal dispute between LanChile and LanPeru. (Portfolio: Peru).
February 1, 2001... A legal dispute between LanChile and LanPeru has led LanChile to terminate leasing contracts for two LanPeru jets, causing the suspension of all LanPeru domestic operations.

Venezuelans have approved a referendum to create a single, government-dominated labor union and to throw out the current leaders of the country's major unions. (Portfolio: Venezuela).
February 1, 2001... Venezuelans have approved a referendum to create a single, government-dominated labor union and to throw out the current leaders of the country's major unions, which have been unsympathetic to President Hugo Chavez. Voter turnout was as low...

French aluminum and packaging group Pechiney. (Portfolio: Venezuela).
February 1, 2001... French aluminum and packaging group Pechiney has agreed to help Corporacion Venezolana de Guyana (CVG) improve its alumina output by 20 percent annually Pechiney will invest US$260 million in CVG, and will receive an additional 400,000 tons...

US air travel market. (Portfolio: Venezuela).
February 1, 2001... The country will spend US$114 million this year in hopes of restoring its airports' US safety rating and gaining improved access to the US air travel market.

Buying power. (Latin American Index).
February 1, 2001... Buying Power (Billions US$) Mexico 383.1 Guatemala 16.4 El Salvador 11.0 Honduras 3.9 Nicaragua 2.2 Costa Rica 6.1 Panama 5.7 Ecuador...

Economic forecasts. (Latin American Index).
February 1, 2001... Economic Forecasts Latin America experienced average GDP growth of 4.4 percent last year, and analysts don't expect too steep a drop this year, with estimates pegging growth around 4 percent. That could all change, however, if the US...

Calling for exports. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Brazilian telecommunications equipment exports, 1 H99: US$109,116 * Telecom exports, 1 H00: US$470,469 * Increase: 331% * Brazilian mobile phone exports, 1 H99: US$39,668 * Mobile phone exports, 1 H00: US$285,610 *...

Give me energy. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Private investment in Mexico's electricity sector, January 1997-June 2000: US$3 billion * Total investment in Mexico, January 1997-June 2000: US$17 billion * Portion represented by electricity: 17% * Estimated investment...

Big borrower. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Developing world's largest borrower: Argentina * Portion of money raised in global emerging market bond sales in 2000 that went to Argentina: US$1 of every US$7 Source: BusinessWeek

Banana exports drop. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Ecuadorian banana exports, January-September 2000: US$650.4 million * Exports, January-September 1999: US$739.2 million * Drop: 12% Source: The Miami Herald

Mobile takes over. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Mobile telephone customers in Mexico, Sept. 2000: 12.2 million * Fixed-line customers in Mexico, Sept. 2000: 12 million Source: The Wall Street Journal, Cofetel

e-commerce not in English. (Bulletin Board).
February 1, 2001... * Value of e-commerce imports to Latin America from US English-language sites in 2000: US$40 million * Share of total e-commerce purchases in Latin America: 7% * Share of total e-commerce purchases in 1999: 32% * Share of...

Uruguay bond issue. (Finance).
February 1, 2001... Most of the sovereign debt issued in Latin America is purchased in the world's financial capitals, places like New York and London. In a small but important step toward self-sufficiency in Latin America's capital markets, however, Uruguay...

Solar telecom. (Community Development).
February 1, 2001... The Honduran government is joining with the private sector and an NGO (non-governmental organization) in a project that promises to combine solar power and wireless telephony to bring the Internet to remote villages. The project will utilize...

Insuring e-commerce. (Internet).
February 1, 2001... Going, going, gone. Those three words could apply to a Web shopper's money when buying merchandise through an online auction site. While industry insiders have long recognized that perceived risk of fraud is a major obstacle to e-commerce...

Border patrol. (Trends).
February 1, 2001... As president and CEO of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Al Zapanta is devoted to fostering dialogue between Mexican and US corporations. He is also pushing to bring hundreds of businesses along the US-Mexican border into the...

The boy from Ipanema: Washington Rodrigues is part of a new generation of Brazilian executives that has managed to inject life into the crisis-ridden coffee industry. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... THE COMPLEX WAY TO describe how Washington Rodrigues changed Ipanema Coffees is to say that he reengineered the firm from coffee commodity trader to gourmet purveyor of the bean. The simple explanation: He focused on quality rather than...

Seeing green: investing in the environment can bring more rewards than just helping the planet. John Forgash has learned it can also earn you a different kind of green. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... UNLIKE MANY OF HIS counterparts who spend their days analyzing the balance sheets of dotcom companies, John Forgash spends most of his time trekking through the jungle. It's during these expeditions that Forgash, founder and CEO of A2R Fundos...

Supply central: in just three years, CEO Andy Freire has taken Officenet from an idea to the top office supply chain in Argentina. And he's poised for expansion. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... No MATTER HOW large or small, or how technologically complex they become, all companies need to buy office supplies -- those mundane products like pens, pencils and paper. And that simple, reliable market was what two young economists,...

Faster is better: FiberTel's Rolando Horman wants to make high-speed Internet access via cable the next Argentine passion. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... IN THE SLOW MOVING Argentine economy, Rolando Horman is one chief executive who is moving fast. For Horman, the managing director of Argentine broadband company FiberTel, that means providing his countrymen with two of their favorite...

Keep on truckin': the CEO of Mexico's Cuantra is steering her online commercial vehicle parts company into the black by serving a strictly nuts-and-bolts industry. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS Internet start-up Cuantra does not have smart, elegant offices in Mexico City. Visitor parking is most conveniently handled by passing a few pesos to the security guard at the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food restaurant...

'Ores' fair in politics and business: Ex-Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada finds himself in a survivor's role as the chairman of Bolivia's largest mining company. (Strategies).
February 1, 2001... THE SAYING GOES THAT great metals prices make great miners. However, with lead, tin, gold and silver prices at 10-year Iows, it's obvious why the industry that mines mineral-rich Bolivia is down to a handful of companies. "Flexibility is what...

The scion of San Salvador.
February 1, 2001... The civil war that devastated El Salvador nearly destroyed Ricardo Poma's family-owned conglomerate. But by weathering the storm that killed his brother, he learned lessons that have made Grupo Poma a tough regional competitor. IT'S only...

In search of a leader: what keeps Aerolineas Argentinas airborne? It could be the most recent round of funding--US$650 million--but the real answer is politics.
February 1, 2001... Perhaps the lowest point in the drawn-out humbling of Aerolineas Argentinas came last May when Argentine tax collectors slapped a lien on 32 of the company's jets to guarantee payment of US$86 million in back taxes. But it was really just one...

Corporate split personality.
February 1, 2001... What is Petrobras? The answer is complicated. From the outside it might seem like any other state-run giant. But scratch beneath the surface and you find CEO Henri Philippe Reichstul trying to invest a new kind of company: a publicly traded,...

Storage life preservers in a sea of digital information: high-tech vendors are racing to create the best methods to store data for companies that are drowning in tidal waves of digital information. (Marketplace: Executive Briefing).
February 1, 2001... DRAMATIC GROWTH IN the storage solution market in Latin America should come as no surprise, as companies find themselves confronted with the dilemma of how to manage the perpetually growing amount of information they send, receive and record....

Investment banking: head of the class. (Marketplace: Financial Services).
February 1, 2001... Raising capital--be it for corporations or governments--is becoming more and more crucial as Latin American business continues to globalize. Leading the charge are some of the world's largest investment banks. For their aggressive mergers and...

Letters from the President & Chairman.
February 1, 2001... CHARLOTTE GALLOGLY President, World Trade Center Miami I am delighted to report that over $474 million in international sales and local economic impact was generated by the programs and hemispheric trade shows managed by the World...

World Trade Center Miami: Annual Report 2000. (Special Advertising Report).
February 1, 2001... MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 1999-2000 ECONOMIC IMPACT ON MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: $474 Million * $435 million in international sales were reported at the two trade shows managed by the World Trade Center Miami. 13,000 international executives...

Gadget shopping and flight times. (Web Sites).
February 1, 2001... www.cnet.com What it is: A compendium of reviews and articles about technology and electronic products. What it promises: Up-to-the-minute, global technology-related information, data and services. What it does: News about the...

Recreation and business to go: these gadgets will make life easier when you're out having fun, and will make it easier to get information into your computer once you return to work. (Technology: Gadgets).
February 1, 2001... MAGELLAN GPS 315 This handheld GPS receiver uses global positioning satellites to pinpoint your location in the world--within a few feet it also shows bearing, heading and speed. More useful, though, are features that allow you to mark...

Taking stock: Chilean retailer Sodimac goes high-tech to address inventory issues and to help deal with pricing pressures. (Technology: IT Solutions).
February 1, 2001... ONE OF THE BIGGEST sins is in the retail industry is lack of inventory, explains Manuel Gonzalez Marro, operations and systems manager for Chilean home improvement retailer Sodimac. "If you go to a store to buy a product and it isn't there,...

Golf fever: forget futbol. The interest upswing in golf once considered the stodgy sport of the super-affluent, has Brazilian real estate developers and hoteliers rushing to attract both natives and foreign-guests. (Style of Life: Sports).
February 1, 2001... IN A COUNTRY KNOWN FOR PRODUCING world-class football players, golf has long been regarded by most Brazilians as a sport only for the social elite. And for good reason: For a few reais, a dozen or more boys can purchase a plastic ball and...

Lap of luxury: Miami doesn't have a large stable of five-star hotels, but several new additions, together with renovated traditional greats, make for a topnotch selection of world-class accommodations. (Style of Life: Travel).
February 1, 2001... MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, MIAMI IS proving that it isn't just a place to do business. Miami's finest hotels cater to guests' every whim, with accommodations to match. Whether it be downtown, in Coral Gables or in Bal Harbour, visitors will find...

Volvo goes Cross Country: Volvo has a reputation for safe, conservative cars. The new 2001 Volvo V70 XC Cross Country may be safe, but it's a whole different take on the Swedish legend. (Style of Life: Automobiles).
February 1, 2001... THERE IS NO QUESTION in anybody's mind that the sports utility vehicle has revolutionized the automotive industry SUVs have the flexibility to go off-road, deal with bad roads, carry more people in comfort and give drivers a taller, wider...

Keys to the kingdom: what will open the doors to economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean? New strategies for the promotion of exports might help. (Final Thoughts).
February 1, 2001... IT IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED THAT MARKET-oriented economic reforms and a competitive participation in the world economy are cornerstones of the new socioeconomic development paradigm in Latin America and the Caribbean. The pace and sustainability...