Brazil bonds: 2012′s must-have asset?
They have got attractive yields, promising growth prospects and they’re unlikely to let you down. If you have to put your money somewhere, it might as well be in Brazilian bonds, it seems.
After the bumper $825m offering at the beginning of the year by the Brazilian government, the country’s companies have rushed to follow suit. Continue reading »
Paccar joins the Brazil carry trade
Another year, another investment in Brazil’s truck industry. Paccar, the US-based truck maker, announced a $200m plant to build its DAF heavy vehicles in Ponta Grossa, in Brazil’s southern Paraná state.
Paccar chairman and CEO Mark Pigott was on the scene for the ground-breaking ceremony this week. Continue reading »
Brazil: taxes that don’t add up
Brazil’s unwieldy tax system never ceases to amaze.
A new study by the Brazilian Institute for Tax Planning (IBPT) has worked out exactly how much parents and schools have to pay in tax for the basic stationary kids need at school. And the results aren’t pretty. Continue reading »
2011: A year of two halves for the real
No wonder Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, got in such a huff about the strength of the real last year, inciting a global currency war wherever he went.
New data from the central bank on Wednesday shows that a whopping $65.28bn in dollar inflows poured into Brazil in 2011 — almost triple the previous year’s total of $24.35bn. Continue reading »
Happy 2012! Brazil’s new year bond sale
What better way to start the new year than by holding a bond sale and showing everyone who is boss.
Brazil once again flaunted its enviable position in global debt markets on Tuesday by selling $750m of its 2021 dollar-denominated bonds at a yield of 3.449 per cent (150 basis points above comparable US Treasury bonds). Continue reading »
Brazil: Vale’s ship strategy on the rocks
They haven’t even all been built yet but it looks like Vale’s ill-fated mega-ships are already up for sale.
José Carlos Martins, pictured, the mining company’s executive director for iron ore and strategy, told reporters on Tuesday that it is now “preferable” to sell the so-called Valemaxes and then lease them back.
Brazil: Dilma made out of Teflon
Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff must have a non-stick coating. A study released on Friday by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) found that her personal approval rating remains at 72 per cent compared with 71 per cent in September. This comes in spite of or maybe because of her loss of six ministers to corruption scandals this year.
“The president has managed to shield herself. The allegations of corruption were restricted to her ministers,” said CNI’s executive manager of research, Renato da Fonseca. Continue reading »
China eyes LatAm agribusiness
What do Peruvian fishmeal, Chilean wine and Brazilian soy beans have in common?
They’re all on China’s shopping list as the nation of 1.3bn people steps up its agribusiness acquisitions and investments overseas to overcome considerable supply constraints at home. Continue reading »
Brazil: a taste for dim sum
It seems that like many foreigners who visit Hong Kong, Brazilian finance officials have picked up a taste for dim sum during a visit to the Chinese territory.
They have begun talking for the first time about issuing Chinese currency-denominated debt in Hong Kong, or so-called dim sum bonds. Continue reading »
Brazil: Euro deal exerts no charm
The Brazilian real has greeted last week’s European summit deal with about as much enthusiasm as a child being forced to eat Brussels sprouts.
The Brazilian currency lost 2.5 per cent of its value against the dollar to hit a two-week low of 1.8440 on Monday, amid concern over a weaker outlook for commodity prices. Continue reading »
Vale: big ship springs big leak
We’ve all been there. You buy something on the cheap made in China or South Korea, but as soon as you get home it breaks. Unfortunately for Vale, Brazil’s mining giant, the same thing seems to have happened with their 400,000 ton iron ore carrier.
The ship is part of the company’s brand-new fleet of 35 mega vessels being built at Asian yards – a wildly ambitious multi-billion dollar plan by the (ousted) former chief executive to cut freight costs. Continue reading »
Brazil: more ministers walk the plank
Brazil’s seemingly endless corruption sweep has two more ministers in its sights – the minister of cities, Mario Negromonte, and more significantly, minister of trade and industry, Fernando Pimentel.
You will recall, President Dilma Rousseff has already sacked seven ministers in less than 12 months in office, six of them following allegations of corruption or questionable ethics. Continue reading »
Mexico gives go-ahead to Latam exchange fusion
Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV), the Mexican Stock Exchange, has signed a letter of intent to join the exchanges of Colombia, Peru and Chile in what is Latin America’s first stock market tie-up.
The FT’s Adam Thomson in Mexico City reports on the country’s decision to give a nod to the Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA). He says: Continue reading »
Brazil: Lupi under fire and out the door
Brazilian labour minister Carlos Lupi’s now infamous words – that you would have to shoot him to get him out of his position – finally seem to have backfired.
His claim that as a large man, it would take a big bullet to take him out has turned out to be bluster. Like five other ministers before him in this government who have fallen to charges of corruption and ethical breaches, in the end he went without need for the government to bring out the heavy artillery. Continue reading »
Brazil: Auto loans feel the heat
Brazil’s central bank has released figures for October showing the highest vehicle loan default rate in two years. As reported by Bloomberg:
Default rates on cars, motorcycles and trucks in October rose to 4.7 per cent, the highest since September 2009, compared with 3.1 per cent a year earlier and 4.4 per cent in September, the central bank said Nov 23. Loans that were 15 to 90 days overdue increased to 8.6 per cent from 7.9 per cent a month ago.
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