Chile’s state-owned copper company Codelco plans to boost investment 25 percent at its largest mine next year to expand output for China, the world’s biggest copper consumer and the company’s number one customer. Spending at Codelco’s northern division will rise to about $1 billion from $800 million this year, part of a plan to increase output almost 22 percent by the end of 2008. Copper prices currently stand at $1.44 a pound, more than double the 14-year low of $.60 a pound in November 2001.
Category: Paywall
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Codelco Buys Ventanas
Codelco purchased the southern copper smelting and refining plant Ventanas from state-run copper producer Enami for $393 million. Ventanas has the capacity to produce 330,000 tons of copper per year. Codelco will issue a $200 million bond in the local market to finance the purchase.
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Dominican Republic Renegotiates Debt
The Dominican Republic has renegotiated $950 million in foreign bonds as part of an International Monetary Fund-backed debt restructuring plan. The debt represents more than 90 percent of the $1.1 billion in sovereign bonds that the government has been trying to renegotiate with the Paris Club and other foreign creditors. One set of bonds worth $500 million, which had been set to expire in 2006, will now expire in 2011. Another $600 million in bonds that had been set to expire in 2013 are being swapped for debt that will expire in 2018.
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GM, Ford Cut to Junk
General Motors and Ford, the biggest carmakers in the US, had their credit ratings cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s. S&P cut GM two levels to BB from BBB- and lowered Ford one level to BB+ from BBB-, citing concern that their strategies may be ineffective in correcting competitive disadvantages. Some analysts said the ratings cuts could limit investors’ appetite for high-yield debt in Latin America.
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América Móvil Mulls Expansion
América Móvil, Latin America’s biggest mobile-telephone company, said it is considering plans to expand into Spain, home to Telefónica, its main competitor in Latin America. Telefónica controls about half the Spanish wireless market through its mobile-phone arm Telefónica Móviles. In Mexico, América Móvil has about 75% of the market and Telefónica Móviles has about 15%.
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Casino Increases Stake
Casino Guichard-Perrachon, France’s fifth-largest supermarket operator, agreed to pay $587 million to take joint control of Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Brazil’s largest retailer. The purchase boosts Casino’s stake in Pão de Açúcar to 34% from 27% and gives it control of half the voting rights in Pão de Açúcar’s controlling holding company. Pão de Açúcar and French rival Carrefour dominate Brazil’s supermarket sector.
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Mexico: Remittances Rise
Remittances to Mexican families from workers in the US rose 21% year-on-year in the first quarter to $4.1 billion. Fully 88% of remittances were sent through electronic media, 11% were sent through money orders and 1% cash transfers. Mexico’s Central Bank reported 12.3 billion individual remittance transactions in the first three months of the year, with the average amount per transaction at $330.
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Pemex Profit Increases
Mexican state-owned oil monopoly Pemex posted a $455 million net profit for the first quarter, compared to a $91 million loss a year earlier. Sales rose 14% to $17.7 billion. However, Pemex’s total output of crude oil and other liquid fuels stood at 3.74 million barrels per day in the quarter, a 2% decrease, while crude output fell slightly to 3.31 million barrels per day.
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Trade Ministers Agree to Formula
Trade ministers from about 30 countries agreed yesterday to new rules for calculating import tariffs, a highly technical decision that opens the way for a broader reduction in duties and allows leaders to restart stalled World Trade Organization talks on liberalizing agricultural trade. The breakthrough deal was yet another success for Brazil in its campaign to tear down US and EU rules protecting farmers.
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Acindar’s Net Rises
Argentine steelmaker Acindar posted a $53 million net profit for the first quarter, up 17% year-on-year. Sales rose 36% to $198 million. Acindar exports about 25% of its steel production. Brazil’s Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo-Mineira took control of Acindar last year after recapitalizing the company.