Investments

• Wednesday, May 30th 2012 - 17:32 UTC

  Repsol pulls out from Cuba oil search after drilling a second dry well

  

  Spanish company Repsol has said it is pulling out of Cuba after failing in a recent attempt to find oil off the island. Chairman Antonio Brufau told journalists and investors that Repsol “won't do another” well in Cuba.

• Wednesday, May 30th 2012 - 05:19 UTC

  Cosan buys BG stake in Brazil’s largest gas distribution company for 1.7bn dollars

  

  British natural gas firm BG Group Plc said on Tuesday it had signed a definitive binding agreement to sell its entire 60.1% stake in Comgas to Brazilian energy company Cosan S.A. for 3.4 billion Brazilian Reais, which is about $1.7 billion at current exchange rates.

• Wednesday, May 30th 2012 - 05:12 UTC

  Merger in Brazil creates market leader in sugar, rice and canned fish

  

  Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Cosan and the country's largest rice producer, Camil Alimentos, reached an agreement to merge their food divisions, Cosan said in a statement this week.

• Wednesday, May 30th 2012 - 05:01 UTC

  Brazilian petrochemical expands to Uruguay and buys local plant

  

  Brazilian petrochemical conglomerate Ultrapar Paticipacoes SA announced it had purchased Uruguay’s American Chemical for 79 million dollars. Ultrapar is also linked to businesses in fuels and liquids storage, according to a Brazilian securities filing on Monday.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 16:52 UTC

  British drinks group buys cachaça distillery in Brazil as it expands to emerging markets

  

  British drinks group Diageo is buying a maker of Brazil's most popular spirit, cachaça for about 470 million dollars, boosting its expansion in fast-growing emerging markets while it fights for a bigger prize in tequila.

• Sunday, May 27th 2012 - 03:51 UTC

  Ambassador Argüello explains to the US business community YPF seizure

  

  Argentina explained that the YPF seizure was carried out “in order to avoid an energy crisis” in an article which was published in the US edition of The Financial Times newspaper and signed by Ambassador Jorge Argüello.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 09:04 UTC

  Repsol partner in a huge deposit off the Brazilian coast with 1.25bn barrels of oil

  

  Spain’s Repsol, recovering from the recent seizure of YPF by the Argentine government, said an area off the coast of Brazil it is exploring with partner China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. contains the equivalent of at least 1.25 billion barrels of oil.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 02:51 UTC

  Alcohol consumption in Latin America is considerably less than in Europe and US

  

  Alcohol consumption in Latin America is low compared to Europe and the US and averages 5.5 litres of pure alcohol per year per capita, although with marked differences between countries and gender. In Europe consumption is estimated at 13 litres of pure alcohol while in the US the average in 9.8 litres.

• Tuesday, May 22nd 2012 - 05:56 UTC

  UK company begins hydrocarbons prospecting in the Paraguayan Chaco

  

  Amerisur Resources Plc, the oil and gas producer and explorer announced on Monday it has received a Prospecting Permit by Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications for the Espartillar block in the Paraguayan Chaco.

• Monday, May 21st 2012 - 03:34 UTC

  Investors will opt for Uruguay and its legal system, says Spanish ambassador

  

  The seizure of YPF by Argentina can be expected to have a positive repercussion for Uruguay since the country has an enviable legal system and keeps to the rules of the game, said the new Spanish ambassador in Montevideo, Roberto Varela.