Two of Brazil’s biggest food companies announced on Tuesday plans to merge, creating an exporting powerhouse in a stock swap deal prompted by the global financial crisis. Executives from Perdigao SA and Sadia SA said they expect their new enterprise, to be called Brasil Foods SA, to become the world's top exporter of processed meat and chicken.
Brazil's President Lula da Silva is to sign a “voluminous” financing agreement for government managed Petrobras on a visit to China next week said Energy Minister Edison Lobao.
Peru's president Alan García officially opened this week Lima Cargo City, considered the most modern air freight logistics centre in Latinamerica, built with an investment of more than 35 million US dollars.
Fiat is eyeing US auto giant General Motors' operations in Latin America as well as those in Europe (Opel) and discussions on a possible deal are under way, an industry source said Tuesday.
Spain’s pulp and paper manufacturer Ence is ready to accept 400 million US dollars from its Portuguese competitor Portucel to keep the pulp mill project in Uruguay alive. Portucel would take a considerable share of the mill, forested land and would join Ence in a strategic alliance according to reports in the Spanish financial newspaper Expansion.
Chinese automaker Chery reportedly is planning a 700 million US dollars factory in Brazil to tap the country's growing market and to learn more about bio fuel engines according to Sao Paulo’s financial daily Gazeta Mercantil.
The Chilean subsidiary of Australian mining giant BHP Billiton plans to reactivate projects worth 6.75 billion US dollars that were frozen last year amid the global recession.
Chile is just months away from beginning operations at a huge Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) re-gasification plant that was first planned during the Ricardo Lagos administration. The 1.1 billion US dollars plant is located near the Region V coastal city of Quintero.
Chile's flag air carrier LAN announced on Friday it will invest 1.3 billion US dollars between 2009 and 2011 to expand its fleet. LAN, which has operations across South America, will buy long- and short-haul planes as well as new-generation cargo aircraft, Chairman Jorge Awad said.
Latinamerica is hopeful that an increase in trade with China and investments from the Asian giant will help compensate lost business with the United States and the European Union because of the global crisis.