Latin America

OIL PRODUCER PLANS TO BE BIG SPENDER     Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company, says it hopes to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange later this year, following a further privatization to help finance an aggressive spending ...

BRAZIL     Brazilian mining giant Vale walked away from Xstrata acquisition talks. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant formerly known as CVRD, decided to walk away from its proposed $90 billion acquisition of Swiss miner Xstrata after both sides failed ...

PERU     Peru's president Alan Garcia: Fiscal policies led to upgrade. While analysts debated whether Brazil or Panama would win the race to become the next Latin American investment-grade-rated country, Peru beat both countries to the finish line. Citing ...

Panama     Digging in: Work is now under way on the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Although Brazil appears poised to become Latin America’s next investment-grade-rated sovereign, a tiny country may beat the giant to the punch. ...

Colombia/ecuador/venezuela     Uribe: Used the standoff to push US-Colombia trade deal After Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to their borders with Colombia, in response to Colombia’s attack on FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels within Ecuadorian territory on ...

Brazil             President Lula: Basking in Brazil's new net creditor status.   After holding its ranking as the world’s largest emerging markets debtor for several decades, Brazil in January became a net foreign creditor for ...

LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL REPORT Latin American governments’ attempts to gain more control over their countries’ economic fortunes are having far-reaching effects on international corporations doing business in the region.       Left in charge: Brazilian president Lula da Silva ...

BRAZIL BANKING & FINANCE Local banks’ stranglehold on the Brazilian market is coming under threat from acquisition-hungry international banks and investors.   Brazilian central bank governor Henrique Meirelles's steady hand has helped instill growing confidence in prospects for the country's ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COMPANIA DE MINAS BUENAVENTURA/PERU Compañía de Minas Buenaventura, Peru’s largest publicly traded precious metals mining company, is basking in record high prices for much of its output. Buenaventura operates seven mines in Peru and holds controlling interests ...

MEXICO Mexico’s recent economic progress could be derailed by turmoil in the US economy and the outcome of the US presidential election.     High aspirations: Mexico is hoping its economy can resist a US downturn.     The last ...

GUATEMALA     Colom: Facing challenges on the fiscal front. Just weeks after being sworn in on January 14 as the new Guatemalan president, Álvaro Colom—the Central American country’s first left-of-center leader since Jacobo Árbenz, who was overthrown in a ...

MEXICO     Mexico's stock exchange: Lining up a $1 billion IPO. After last year’s blowout initial public offering by the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa), which raised $3.6 billion, the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV), the Bovespa’s Mexican counterpart, ...

Peru     Lessons learned? Investors will be looking closely at the assets behind Peru’s mortgage-backed securities. While most global markets are seeking to shield themselves from shockwaves emanating from the US subprime home loan and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) ...

Nicaragua     Guevara: Deal will put an end to lawsuits. When Nicaragua offered commercial creditors a 95.5% haircut on $1.4 billion in commercial debt as part of a workout, the deal appeared to be more of a scalping. Yet ...

Brazil       Mantega: Hiking other taxes will make up for shortfall.       With Brazilian legislators scrapping the country’s financial transactions tax (CPMF) in December, the government says it must now plug a 40 billion real ($22 ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COPA HOLDINGS/PANAMA       Panama, a natural transportation hub with its famous canal, has become an air-transport center for the Americas, thanks to its national flag carrier, Copa Airlines. The fast-growing airline with a young fleet ...

BRAZIL       The good times roll: Brazil's economy provides plenty of reasons to celebrate. Brazil-focused hedge funds continued to outperform other emerging market funds, producing an average 5.11% return in October, for a hefty 29.47% year-to-date (YTD) gain. ...

COUNTRY REPORT / BRAZIL Brazil’s commitment to developing biofuels is paying off handsomely. Investment is flooding in to other areas of the economy, too.   José Sergio Gabrielli, CEO of Petrobras For the administration of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula ...

BRAZIL     São Paulo stock exchange Bovespa Holding, which owns the São Paulo stock exchange, raised nearly $3.7 billion in an IPO that ranks as Latin America’s largest offering this year. Bovespa sold 250 million shares on October 26, ...

ECUADOR       Correa: Clamping down on the oil industry After a 15-year absence, Ecuador has rejoined OPEC in a move president Rafael Correa says will allow his country to gain greater access to technical advice and market information. ...