Latin America banks are learning to view the Internet more as a means of generating business, rather than as a purely transactional, money-making tool.
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Orinoco No Flow?
Venezuela?s Orinoco oil belt, the largest known hydrocarbon deposit in the world, is a gold mine both to the Venezuelan government and foreign investors. Sponsors Texaco, Phillips Petroleum and Venezuela?s national petroleum company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) signed a $1.1 billion financing as part of the $3.5 billion Hamaca oilfield project in June. Financial backing from the Export-Import Bank of the US helped garner support from commercial banks. But President Chavez wants to pass a new hydrocarbons law (see Promulgations page 8) that threatens to raise future financing costs for oil exploration projects and deter investment in Venezuela?s energy industry.
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A North American Mentality
Free trade with the US has transformed Mexico from a closed an inward-looking economy into one of the most open in the world. Its leading companies are the most adventurous and successful in Latin America.
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Argentina Gets Creative
Just days before Argentina?s momentous $29.52 billion debt exchange last May, the government managed to pull together support for a $1.1 billion patriotic bond. When international investors shied away and nervously awaited the outcome of the exchange, the government crafted a deal to garner domestic support.
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Going out on a limb
Latin American financial executives need to think broadly and creatively about how technology can firmly position them in the modern banking era.
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Outsourcing for better results
Companies are becoming more creative and innovative in maximizing the return on their technology investments. Outsourcing is one way to
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Asian ties prop up deals
Brazil’s historic links to Japan have enabled the government and banks to place a surprising amount of paper in the yen market.
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Green or Blackouts?
As one of the world?s biggest opportunities for power-generation investment, one would think that Brazil would be inundated by foreign companies ready to pour millions into its large-scale thermal power plants that access the fuel reserves of the Brazil? Bolivia pipeline. Think again. Investors in Brazilian power must negotiate several obstacles, including hedging foreign currency risks, a murky privatization plan, and time-consuming environmental licensing. Although the upper echelons of government are trying to smooth the process for foreign investors in power generation, the courts are not playing favorites to powerful multinationals who are having to wait in line with everyone else.
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Polar Doubles Up
Empresas Polar, Venezuela?s largest private food-processing company broke new ground this February when it acquired a 98.2% stake in its largest competitor, publicly traded Mavesa, for $522 million. Because Mavesa trades on both the US and Venezuelan securities markets, a tender offer complying with both countries? securities and exchange commissions (SECs) had to be carefully crafted.
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Banks roll electronic commerce
Critical functions are missing from electronic marketplaces and must be integrated. These are precisely the ones financial services providers have been handling for a long time: risk assurance, financing and payment.