Brazil’s latest export: farmers
Brazil has finally found something other than iron ore, soybeans and oil to export: farmers. Next month a group of Brazilian farmers are off to Mozambique as the first part of the so-called Pró-Savana deal signed at the end of last year.
Aside from a shared colonial past and common language, the climate and terrain in Northern Mozambique and Brazil’s vast central savannah (‘Cerrado’) region are also remarkably similar. Or at least they were. Continue reading »
Casino massacre: not a game changer for foreign companies in Mexico
How afraid should foreign companies be in Mexico following Thursday’s horrific arson attack on a casino in the northern city of Monterrey?
At first glance, the attack, in which 52 people lost their lives, would seem to be the latest chilling indication of how serious extortion in Latin America’s second-largest economy has become. Continue reading »
Venezuela v Multinationals
There’s nothing Hugo Chávez likes more than to shake his fist at the private sector. Nationalising businesses is one of his favourite pastimes, with his Queen-of-Hearts-like cry of “expropriate it!” dreaded in boardrooms across Venezuela.
But it has its consequences. With steel tube-maker Tenaris initiating arbitration proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Wednesday, it becomes Venezuela’s 18th pending case at the World Bank tribunal.
Billions of dollars are at stake, with ExxonMobil alone demanding compensation of at least $7bn after its assets were nationalised in 2007. Continue reading »
Hungary: Balaton basks in heatwave
Hungarians may be singing the Swiss franc blues, and complaining that a 16 per cent flat tax introduced this year mysteriously leaves them with less in their pay packet than the more complicated system it replaced. But when the sun shines, Magyars still find the money – and time – to visit Lake Balaton.
The 50-mile long lake where, in the Cold War era, families from East and West Germany could share a splash, sausage and Spritze in safety, is still the number one domestic travel destination. And, its fans insist, it has re-invented itself for the modern, post-communist, age. Continue reading »
Russia, China, two Koreas: gas games
It’s not surprising that energy experts have poured cold water on the Kremlin’s latest efforts to promote a plan to export Siberian gas across the Korean peninsula.
Relations between North and South Korea were bad when the project was first floated in 2008 and have deteriorated since then. However, there is speculation that Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, who held gas talks with Kim Jong-il, his North Korean counterpart, this week, was sending a message to China to hurry up and clinch a gas deal with Russia or risk seeing supplies diverted elsewhere. Continue reading »
[Snap]: Sino Forest shares halted, again (Updated)
(The OSC has reversed its order calling for the resignation of senior executives at the company, including chairman and chief executive Allen Chan.)
This just in: Sino Forest shares have stopped trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange following a “cease trade” order from the Ontario Securities Commission on Friday morning.
The reasons given by the OSC (after the page break) are not going to help Sino Forest’s case. Continue reading »
Deal of the day: China ITS buys Siemens’ logistics technology
By Wong Ka-chun and Andrew Cheng of mergermarket
Hong Kong-listed China ITS Holdings (1900:HKG) is looking to speed ahead into the market for Chinese public intelligent transportation systems (ITS) with its purchase of China Traffic Holding CTH.
Under the deal, announced this week, China ITS will pay the US$45m for 100 per cent of CTH, to the venture capital arm of Siemens, GP Investment and Founder Holdco. China ITS will pay US$ 29.8m in cash, and the rest through new ITS shares. Continue reading »
Found – one new Amazon
Emerging markets are full of surprises but you’d be forgiven for thinking that this latest announcement was a joke.
AP reports that Brazilian scientists claim to have possibly discovered a 3,700 mile-long subterranean river 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon River. Talk about unexploited potential. Continue reading »
EM fund flows: 22 weeks of gains for local bonds
The flow of investors’ money into emerging market fixed income continues unabated, with figures showing a net inflow into EM local currency funds for the 22nd week in succession.
For an asset class that is still regarded as volatile by many investors, that’s a remarkably consistent record and a testament to the growing appeal of EM FI as a haven of stability in an unpredictable world. While Ben Bernanke has yet to speak at Jackson Hole, his words are unlikely to change this assessment. Continue reading »
New York headlines
Glencore eyes bid for South African miner
Peru to impose extra tax on mining groups
Impala Platinum says Zimbabwe ownership law blocks $10bn investment
China’s banks fail to dispel bad loan fears
India economic growth could slow further Continue reading »
Chinese banks: (over)sold on fear?
Chinese banks aren’t all created equally, but they seem to share one common trait – big profits. The first half of this year was no exception. China’s banking majors all reported stellar profit growth, ranging from a perky 28 per cent to a punchy 45 per cent.
While they don’t share quite the same stock price performance – their share prices are all in a slump. Continue reading »
Bernanke: will he or won’t he?
All eyes today are on Ben Bernanke and his speech at Jackson Hole, including all eyes in emerging markets.
As last year, he will be speaking in the midst of a sudden plunge in global economic confidence. But his words aren’t expected to have the dramatic impact that they had in 2010 – when he boosted markets by signalling that the Fed was ready for further monetary easing. This year the Jackson Hole conference comes after the Fed’s rate-setters have already said – less than three week ago - that they would keep rates close to zero until 2013.
However, that still leaves lots of scope for Bernanke to reassure markets – if he can. Continue reading »
Further reading: enter the Cyber-dragon
Friday’s best picks from the beyondbrics team: examining how India’s primary education is now on par with Afghanistan and a glimpse at China’s involvement in the raging Cyber-war and why Washington is slow to fight back. Continue reading »
Football: why Anzhi may be a better bet than Chelsea for a trophy-hunting oligarch
The announcement by an obscure Russian club, Anzhi Makhachkala, to make Samuel Eto’o the world’s highest paid footballer (and by some estimates, the highest paid athlete in modern sport) will have most commentators lamenting that football is just a game of money-men and mercenaries.
But club owner Suleiman Kerimov (pictured) has less in common with the archetypal football-investing Russian oligarch than appears at first glance. In choosing to pump an estimated $100m into his local side in the war-torn Caucasus he is in a different world from Chelsea and Roman Abramovich. Continue reading »
London headlines
* US to release $1.5bn to Libyan rebels
* Bailout for Greece falters over Demand for collateral
* Impala Platinum says Zimbabwe ownership law blocks $10bn investment
* China’s banks fail to dispel bad loan fears
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