Latin Trade

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Travel hot tips.(Executive Travel)
* AeroMexico now offers daily, nonstop service between Mexico City and Boston with continuing service to Cancun, Mexico. Boston's Logan Airport is expected to add another nonstop destination in Mexi . . .

Bottom-line buddies.(Air alliances)(Brief Article)
The friendly skies have become even friendlier, at least when it comes to airlines' business relationships. As carriers struggle to cut costs, they are turning to alliances for help. From shared tic . . .

Full house: Argentine hotel owners find that cheaper currency brings in business convention travelers.(Executive Travel)
Tourists have flocked to Argentina and its devalued currency to take advantage of suddenly cheap, world-class shopping and atmosphere. Now, business meetings are following suit. A bevy of hotel deal . . .

Hogan & Hartson: Latin American legal experience you can rely on.(Latin America Practice)
Having the right legal team is key to doing business across borders. Raising capital, privatization, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance--all require the right experience. That's why cli . . .

Corporate jets save time and money.(Advertisement)
Orders for new corporate aircraft are increasing as businesses worldwide are experiencing the benefits of control over executive air travel time in an improved global economy. About 7,815 new busi . . .

Creating value in cash & treasury management.(Advertisement)
Creating value for multinationals and corporations in the area of cash and treasury management centers on maximizing cost efficiencies and exploiting key international opportunities within fast movi . . .

Innovations in banking: customer service means total access.(Advertisement)
BANCO DO BRASIL Banco do Bracil is the largest Latin American financial institution --offering 13,220 points of service and 3,241 branches within 2,884 cities throughout Brazil. This tremendous . . .

Dialing for dollars.(Connection)(Brief Article)
The cost of logging on to the Internet in Latin America varies from reasonable to prohibitively expensive. At around US$13 a month, Argentina is cheapest. Nicaraguans pay a steep $51 for the same am . . .

Sony Ericsson T616.(gear Box)(Brief Article)
Wireless phone Price: US$150 www.sonyericsson.com * The Good Quite small and light for so much stuff Takes pictures, handles contact and calendar data and lots of multimedia goodies. * The . . .

Global Grocer: international shoppers click and buy from fledgling online food sellers.(Connection)
Jacqueline Cubici-Gonzalez, a self-professed Interact shopping addict, visits a grocery store Web site once a week to buy meat, vegetables, canned goods and toiletries. But she doesn't have the item . . .

Dial W for Web.(Connection)(Brief Article)
Goodbye, dial tone. Hello, Web tone? Latin American companies are ditching traditional phone lines for Internet-based telecommunications, a move which experts say will allow them to handle data and . . .

Interview with Ali Rodriguez Araque, president of PDVSA: a reinvigorated PDVSA.(Petroleos de Venezuela)(Interview)
The strike and sabotage that Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) faced in December 2002 and January 2003 was unprecedented in the world oil industry in terms of its political motivations and its serious . . .

Top 100 mergers and acquisitions in Latin America.(Table)
Top 100 Mergers and Acquisitions in Latin America Ranked by value in US$ millions TARGET COMPANY TARGET ACTIVITY COUNTRY . . .

Picking up the pieces: Parmalat's hugely profitable Latin America division is a tempting target. Investors aim to keep the compa
It may be hard to imagine, but it was not long ago that Italian dairy giant Parmalat was the envy of much of the world business community. The company boasted a Horatio Alger success story that star . . .

Digging deep: Lula promises economic growth. He's looking at the Amazon to get it.(Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva)(Cover Story)
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva--riding high on a 70% popularity rating and a seemingly endless honeymoon with foreign investors--has gone double-or-nothing on his political future, pre . . .

Selling the sizzle: Buenos Aires province tries to clean up, upstaging the government in the process.(Finance)
Argentina's US$141 billion default at the end of 200]--the biggest the world had ever seen--triggered mass panic on trading desks across the world. It. also immediately set off a chain reaction in t . . .

A big slice of home: Mexican retailer Gigante bets on large stores to attract higher-spending U.S. Hispanics.(Supermarkets)
MATTHEW HELLER- LOS ANGELES A few years ago, Gigante USA President Justo Frias was checking out a grocery store operated by one of his competitors in Southern California. While he was there, he ov . . .

Grounds war: international coffee prices stay low, forcing Colombian growers large and small to rethink.(Commodities)
Miguel Chaparro, the leader of a small indigenous community of Arahuanco natives, has made the five-hour journey by mule from his farm down to Pueblo Bello, a frontier town that connects the rest of . . .

Memo to Dubya: Nicaragua needs to end its cycle of poverty, and Washington owes it big.(Trade talk)(Bush, George W.)
Late last year, an official U.S. memo disparaged Central America's largest country as a hopeless basket case. Here's a small sample of the U.S. government's opinion of a sovereign neighbor: "Nicar . . .

The reformer.(Trade Talk)(El Salvador risk-rating improved)(Interview)
Juan Josh Daboub, El Salvador's Finance Minister, is not one to take a perceived insult lightly. A New York risk-ratings service had graded El Salvador lower in rule of law than Cuba--so he went to . . .

A new consensus.(Trade Talk)(the Latin American economy discussed)(Interview)
Known as the father of the Washington Consensus, a 10-point plan designed to spur economic growth in emerging countries, economist John Williamson since has seen his recommendations intensely critic . . .

The real deal.(Trade Talk)(Interview)
At the beginning of 2004, Chile's long-awaited free-trade agreement with the United States took effect. Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear played a pivotal role in those negotiations, as well a . . .

Brothers in arms.(Trade Talk)(U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement)(Interview)
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco, 70, readily admits that he "knows nothing about the economy." Yet, since taking office in May 2002, his government has handled one of the country's most profound . . .

The big picture.(economic aspects of Chile, Colombia, Brazil)
CHILE The peso has posted strong gains against the dollar, leading to some doubts about export competitiveness. Foreign demand for Chilean copper, already at record high prices, is expected to gro . . .

Viva green.(Trade Talk)(Viva Trust Fund)(Brief Article)
Sustainable development, the idea that economic growth need not destroy the environment, has found a champion in Latin America in Swiss business mogul Stephan Schmidheiny. The 56-year-old philanthro . . .

Sign here, please.(Trade Talk)(Brief Article)
U.S. President George W. Bush, gunning for Hispanic votes in the November presidential election, has finally taken action on millions of illegal migrants, many of which make dangerous harder crossin . . .

In the red.(Trade Talk)(Brief Article)
Economic freedom waned in the past year for 10 nations of 18 Latin America countries studied by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and The Wall Street Journal. Although their resear . . .

Going for gold.(Trade Talk)(Brief Article)
Five rings symbolize the Olympics, but hosting them has largely been a three-ring circus. Of the five continents, two--South America and Africa--have never been chosen for an Olympiad. Rio de Janeir . . .

Feast or famine.(Trade Talk)(Brief Article)
Venezuela's banks have a problem: Increasingly, critics charge that their biggest client, the government, is running the nation into the ground--with bank financing backing it all. Government bonds . . .

It's the law.(Panorama)(Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica (CADE))
BANKING Bancolombia, a Colombian bank, paid more than US$7 million in damages to approximately 7,000 minority shareholders of the former Banco de Colombia, which merged with Banco Internacional de . . .

Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos De Venezuela (CANTV).(Venezuela)(Brief Article)
COMPANIA ANONIMA NACIONAL TELEFONOS DE VENEZUELA (CANTV), the country's largest telecommunications provider, received approval from the government to pay US$100 million in Yankee bonds due at the en . . .

Ford Motor.(Ford Motor Co.)(Brief Article)
FORD MOTOR, a U.S. auto manufacturer, announced plans to invest approximately US$15 million in the Andean region, particularly in Venezuela, to launch five new products and increase market share. Th . . .

Pan American Silver.(Peru)(Compania Minera Argentum)(Brief Article)
PAN AMERICAN SILVER, a Canadian mining company, paid US$35 million to acquire a 92% share in Peruvian miner Compania Minera Argentum, with operations in central Peru. Pan American said it will inves . . .

Spreading its wings.(Panorama)(Brief Article)
Mexicana de Aviacion is forging deals with major airlines in North America and Europe that will allow the airline to extend its international coverage and benefits to passengers from different carri . . .

Repsol Exploracion Peru.(Peru)(Brief Article)
REPSOL EXPLORACION PERU, a unit of the Spanish oil company, and the United States' Burlington Resources signed a contract with state-owned Perupetro for the exploration and development of hydrocarbo . . .

Enersur.(Peru)(Brief Article)
ENERSUR, a Peruvian unit of Belgium's Tractebel, paid US$53 million for the concession to operate the Yuncan hydroelectric plant for the next 17 years. Enersur will have to invest another $205 milli . . .

Tower Automotive.(Mexico)(Brief Article)
TOWER AUTOMOTIVE, a U.S. auto parts supplier, will move one of its production plants from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Monterrey, Mexico by mid-2005. Tower Automotive, which is a major supplier to Daiml . . .

China's bet.(Panorama)(Brief Article)
Chinese steel maker Shanghai Group Corporation (Baosteel) is headed to Brazil to make its largest foreign Investment to dete.Together with Brazilian iron ore producer Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVR . . .

Mexico's Navy.(Mexico)(Purchasing three aircrafts)(Brief Article)
MEXICO'S NAVY purchased three aircraft formerly owned by the Israeli Air Force from Israel for an undisclosed sum, stating it was part of Mexico's plan to secure its shores and naval space, which it . . .

Savia.(Mexico)(Brief Article)
SAVIA, a Mexican biotechnology company, signed an agreement to take over its U.S. subsidiary Bionoya Holding Corporation and turn it into a private company to be called Newco. Bionoya said it was fo . . .

Vitro.(Mexico)(Brief Article)
VITRO, a Mexican glass producer, sold its 60% stake in fiberglass company Vitro Fibras for US$71.5 million to the United States' Owens Coming, which holds the other 40% in the company Vitro said it . . .

Holcim.(Mexico)(Brief Article)
HOLCIM, a Swiss cement producer, plans to purchase the 31.1% of its Mexican unit Holcim Apasco it doesn't already own, held by minority shareholders. If Holcim acquires all outstanding shares, its t . . .

Mexico signed a new tax treaty with Australia to reduce double taxation and prevent tax evasion in both countries.(Mexico)(Brief
MEXICO signed a new tax treaty with Australia to reduce double taxation and prevent tax evasion in both countries. The new treaty will become effective July 2004 and is expected to boost Australian . . .

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).(Mexico)(Brief Article)
BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA ARGENTARIA (BBVA), a Spanish bank, told the Mexican stock exchange it would offer shareholders up to US$4.1 billion to acquire the 40.6% stake in Mexican unit BBVA Bancomer that . . .

Grupo.(Colombia)(Brief Article)
GRUPO EMPRESARIAL BAVARIA, a Colombian brewer, acquired through its Panamanian subsidiary a 49% stake in Costa Rica's Grupo Embotelladora Centroamericana, which includes beverage companies Aguas de . . .

Endesa.(Chile)(Brief Article)
ENDESA, a Chilean electricity company, received a US$250 million syndicated loan from Spanish banks Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Banco Santander Central Hispano, among others. Endesa said the . . .

Harbin Embraer.(Brazil)(Brief Article)
HARBIN EMBRAER, a joint venture of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and Chinas Harbin Aircraft Industry, sold six ERJ 145 jets to China Southern Airlines for an undisclosed sum, marking the f . . .

Varig and Tam, Brazil's top airlines, cancelled plans to merge their operations for at least another two years, and say they int
VARIG and TAM, Brazil's top airlines, cancelled plans to merge their operations for at least another two years, and say they intend to continue managing their current code-sharing agreement. The air . . .

Endesa.(Brazil)(Brief Article)
ENDESA, a Spanish electricity company, inaugarated the Fortaleza thermoelectric plant, with an installed capacity of 310 megawatts, in the stale of Ceara, Brazil. The plant is part of the Brazilian . . .

Banco Bradesco.(Brazil)(Brief Article)
BANCO BRADESCO, Brazil's No. 1 private bank, won a bid to take over a 90% stake in Brazil's Banco do Estado do Maranhao for approximately US$27 million. Bradesco also announced that it has received . . .