All posts by latinbusinessdata

Argentina

Fiat Chrysler to invest $500 million in Argentina plant

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Group Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne. (Photo: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Wednesday announced a $500 million investment in Argentina for production of a new vehicle for the Latin American market.

The plant is scheduled to launch production in the second half of 2017 and will produce more than 100,000 vehicles a year, according to the automaker.

“This plant will operate using the most advanced technologies available to FCA today,” said FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne in a statement. “This choice demonstrates a major strategic change, giving the Córdoba plant a central role in FCA’s industrial activities in Latin America.”

Marchionne was joined by Argentine President Mauricio Macri and other government officials for the announcement, which was made during an event at Cordoba’s Ferreyra Plant.

Read the full story on Detroit News.

Mexico

Mexico replaces top U.S. diplomats, citing hostile climate

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Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers a speech during the 78th anniversary of the expropriation of Mexico’s oil industry in Mexico City, March 18, 2016. REUTERS/EDGARD GARRIDO

Mexico’s government on Tuesday unexpectedly changed two of its top officials responsible for U.S. relations, citing concerns about an increasingly anti-Mexican climate across the border.

Carlos Sada, previously the consul in Los Angeles, was named ambassador to the United States while Paulo Carreno, one of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s communications chiefs, was appointed the deputy foreign minister for North America.

The new ambassador must still be approved by the Senate.

“We have been warning that our citizens have begun to feel a more hostile climate,” Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told local radio after the announcement.

Read the full article on Reuters.

Venezuela

Venezuela’s gives Fridays off to ease power consumption

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Venezuela’s first lady Cilia Flores, left, speaks to her husband, President Nicolas Maduro during a demonstration, at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, April 7, 2016. (Photo: Ariana Cubillos, AP)

Embattled President Nicolas Maduro gave the country’s 1-million-plus public administration employees Fridays off for the next two months in a bid to reduce electricity use in the oil-rich country and avert a collapse of the power grid.

Maduro also called on his citizens yesterday to reduce their power consumption, the highest in Latin America, in a bid to cope with the burgeoning crisis that has disrupted life for weeks. If all of the government’s proposals are implemented, power consumption could fall by up to 20%, Maduro said.

“I want to avoid painful rationing,” Maduro said during a nationwide
televised address.

Venezuela, which derives 70% of its electricity from hydroelectric plants, is facing an electrical crisis, partially caused by El Niño weather phenomenon. The resulting drought has reduced water levels at the country’s hydroelectric plants, in turn slashing generator output.

Read the full article in USA Today.

Brazil

Brazil’s Itaú eyeing Citigroup’s Latin America assets

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Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is interested in assets that Citigroup Inc has put up for sale in Latin America, as Brazil’s largest bank by market value seeks opportunities to expand beyond its home turf, a senior executive said on Thursday.

Any assets that Itaú could analyze for potential purchase are outside Brazil, said Ricardo Villela Marino, senior vice president in charge of Latin American operations.

Marino, who is a member of one of the families that control the São Paulo-based bank, said the bank has not entered into negotiations for any of those assets.

“We’ll take a look at every unit they put up for sale” excluding Brazil, Marino told reporters on the sidelines of an event in São Paulo.

Itaú is aiming for its operations outside Brazil to account for almost 20 percent of its total revenue by the end of the decade, up from less than 15 percent now, as part of a strategy to diversify from the recession-stricken nation.

Read the full article on Reuters.

Colombia

Avianca Names New CEO

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German Efromovich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Avianca Holdings S.A. and Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A. has announced the appointment of Hernán Rincón (pictured above) as the new Chief Executive Officer of Avianca Holdings S.A. and Avianca S.A

Mr. Rincón, was most recently CEO for Microsoft Latin America, will replace Alvaro Jaramillo Buitrago, who was appointed interim CEO after Fabio Ramirez Villegas stepped down as Chief Executive Officer.

“Appointing Hernán Rincón as the head of Avianca Holdings S.A. and Avianca S.A.  coincides with the beginning of a new phase in which strengthening of the organization is crucial to cope with the changes of the environment. The latter, however, requires a rigorous adjustment of our strategy in order to maintain Avianca’s high quality of service and business competitiveness, after almost 100 years of continuous service to travelers in Colombia, Latin America and the world. A challenge that, I’m sure, Mr. Rincón will know how to take on supported by the talent, vision, creativity and leadership that have characterized him throughout his successful career,” said Chairman Efromovich.

Read the full article on Finance Colombia.

Brazil

Brazil’s Odebrecht hopes to renegotiate $9.83 billion in debt

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A sign of the Odebrecht SA construction conglomerate is pictured in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 26, 2016. REUTERS/RICARDO MORAES

Odebrecht SA, Latin America’s largest engineering company, hopes to renegotiate as much as 35 billion reais ($9.83 billion) in debt with Brazilian banks in order to get through a financial crisis sparked by its involvement in the country’s biggest-ever graft probe, according to the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.

The company, whose chief executive and grandson of its founder received a 19-year sentence from the court handling the probe last month, seeks an “ambitious” agreement with the banks to restructure its debts and free up liquidity, the paper said Saturday, without citing sources for its information.

Read the full article on Reuters.

 

Brazil

Brazil’s Petrobras to axe 12,000 jobs

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Brazil’s state-run oil producer, Petrobras, has said it will cut 12,000 jobs by 2020. The voluntary layoff programme will help save $9bn at the company, which has struggled with losses following a price-fixing and bribery scandal.

It has also been hit by the global slump in the price of oil.

Petrobras, which has reported losses for the last two financial years, is expected to spend $1.23bn on implementing the job cuts plan.

Petrobras has long been one of the biggest employers in Brazil, with more than 80,000 employees.

However, it has seen its business hit by the huge falls in oil prices globally and one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country’s history, which has gone to the heart of the country’s government.

The announcement that 12,000 jobs are to be cut over the next five years is part of a investment plan to turn around the company’s fortunes.

Read the full article on the BBC.

Latin America

Alierta to retire as Telefonica chairman after 15 years

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The longest-serving head of a leading European telecommunications company, Telefonica executive chairman Cesar Alierta, is to retire after nearly 16 years in the position. In a statement, the company announced that Alierta will propose the current COO, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, as the new chairman at a board meeting to be held on 08 April. According to the outgoing chairman, Alvarez-Pallete is “the leader most prepared to successfully face the challenges imposed by the digital revolution”. Alvarez-Pallete was named operating chief in 2012 and has been considered Alierta’s likely successor for a number of years

Read the full article on Telecompaper.

Colombia

Colombia’s Ecopetrol seeks $2 bln from CB&I

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Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol will seek $2 billion in damages from contractor Chicago Bridge & Iron Company for additional costs during the renovation of Colombia’s Reficar refinery, Ecopetrol said late on Monday.

Ecopetrol has said bad management at CB&I increased spending on the project by $4 billion, double the original $3.99 billion price tag. Ecopetrol said it filed the suit against CB&I before the International Chamber of Commerce.

Read the full article on Reuters.

Latin America

Planemakers shrug off Brazil gloom, forecast growth in Latin America

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An Airbus A350 XWB aircraft is seen ahead of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE) at Santiago international airport, March 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Latin American airlines will need some 3,050 new planes worth $350 billion over the next two decades, according to Boeing forecasts. Sixty percent of Latin America’s existing commercial fleet will be replaced in the next 20 years, with the overall fleet size tripling during that time, the company added.

Read the full article on Reuters.