Chávez: thanks for the money PDVSA
That Hugo Chávez has largely Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA to thank for the achievements of his “Bolivarian Revolution” is no secret, but it seems that he is becoming ever more reliant on it for his survival.
At least, that doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable conclusion given the gigantic leap in its contributions to Chávez’s opaque “development” fund, Fonden, over the last year. Continue reading »
Delta takes a $100m punt on Brazil
In any other circumstances, an investment of $100m would rarely make headlines.
But in today’s suffering airline industry, it can make all the difference, it seems. Delta Air Lines announced on Wednesday it was paying that much for about 3 per cent of the capital of Gol, a Brazilian low-cost airline, in a deal that also gives the US company a seat on the board. Continue reading »
Goldman Sachs: Brics in 2050
Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist who invented the Bric acronym, may be distancing himself from his creation, preferring the label ‘growth markets’. But his employer is still busy pushing what some are now calling a Bloody Ridiculous Investment Concept. Here’s what Goldman forecasts for the Brics in 2050. Continue reading »
Colombian banking: Santander retreats
Of all the sectors to be abandoning as 2011 comes to a close, Colombian banking is not an obvious choice. Highly profitable, well-regulated, with enviable growth prospects, the incumbents have long been fighting off suitors from the United States, Europe, Brazil, Chile and Peru.
But needs must for Spain’s Santander. Continue reading »
Turkish economy: going flat
Some of the fizz is going out of the Turkish economy – and even soft drink manufacturers are preparing for the consequences.
Michael O’Neill, chief executive of Coca-Cola Icecek, a bottler 20.1 per cent owned by Coca-Cola and 50.3 per cent owned by local brewer Anadolu Efes, is just hoping that the economy registers low single digit growth next year and adds that the euro crisis could make things worse. Continue reading »
India: your choice – 90,000 pairs of trainers or one shirt
Fancy a metaphor for India’s unequal society? How does a contrast between a pair of $1 trainers and a shirt selling for $90,000 strike you?
Well, thanks to Reebook and Amitabh Chandel, an Indian designer from a princely family, such a comparison now exists. Make of it what you will. Continue reading »
Poland: a real rollercoaster
At a time when investors around the world are getting a sick feeling in their stomachs from the rollercoaster of the eurozone crisis – an Israeli businessman is planning a €500m investment in central Poland that will build a real rollercoaster in what is one of the EU’s more stable economies. Continue reading »
South Korea: a bet on property
Will tax cuts for multiple home owners help revive South Korea’s sluggish property market? Investors are not so sure, as the measure’s short-term impact might be muted by uncertainties over the global economy. Continue reading »
[video] Russia’s changing landscape
Over 1,000 demonstrators on Tuesday gathered for a second evening of protests over flawed parliamentary elections despite the Kremlin’s ban on unapproved rallies. A panel of experts debate how the outcome of the election will change the political and business landscape in the country.
Kirchner goes pro-market. Maybe
It this a tweak to the “Model”? Investors seem to think so. Argentine bonds rallied sharply overnight after Cristina Fernández Kirchner (pictured) appointed a surprisingly market-friendly candidate as her new economy minister. Continue reading »
China: more important, harder to crack
Hope springs eternal: multinational companies are counting on China to save them from the global financial crisis – just as their ability to compete on the mainland has eroded more than ever before. Continue reading »
Multinationals like Procter & Gamble tend to take one look at China and see 2.6bn armpits in need of deodorant. Wannabe multinationals actually inside China are apt to take a more rounded view. Take Sany Heavy Industry, the country’s biggest maker of construction machinery, which is busily expanding almost everywhere but China.
That is not merely a reflection of its desire to create a global brand to rival Komatsu of Japan or Caterpillar of the US. Building plants in the US, Brazil, India and Germany, as it has done this year to push overseas sales, represents a sensible hedge. With 96 per cent of sales generated within China in the first six months, and 97 per cent of gross profit, the Rmb93bn ($15bn) Shanghai-listed firm is uncomfortably exposed to the risk of a serious domestic slowdown in construction.
Barclays: bye-bye Indian retail banking
Barclays will sell off assets worth nearly $1bn as part of its plans to scale back its Indian retail banking operations, the British bank having had a rough time over the past five years, the FT reports.
Barclays began selling off its loan books last year and sold its credit card business to Standard Chartered on Tuesday – a sale of 150,000 card accounts for $35m – but will maintain its successful investment banking and corporate banking divisions. Continue reading »
Pimco: coming to Copacabana
Pimco is going Latin. The US fund manager is opening an office in Rio de Janeiro next month to service a growing list of Brazilian clients.
It’s a sign of Pimco deepening links with local institutions to capitalise on the rapid growth of EM asset management. As Curtis Mewbourne, Pimco’s managing director, told beyondbrics: “These economies will make further gains. In the context of the rest of history, the last 100 years [of western dominance] are extraordinarily untypical. The per capita incomes in emerging markets are still not even close to developed market per capita incomes. So the EMs can literally get 10 times bigger.” Continue reading »
The Indian government announced the opening up of the retail sector to foreign direct investment late last month. This led to an intense and sharply polarised debate. Passionate editorials for and against the plan appeared in the Indian press. The Bharatiya Janata party, the major opposition party, said it would oppose the policy in the streets and in parliament.
The critics had their say – and, within a week, their way. The policy has been put on hold, perhaps indefinitely. It was striking how soon the government capitulated, abandoning a policy that Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, was himself deeply committed to. This move points to some deeper structural features of the Indian political system, which may mean that – at least in the near future – other major reforms proposed by the government will not be implemented.
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