Atlantico Weekly

Archive for February, 2009|Monthly archive page

Brazil news update, Feb. 19th

In Banking, Brazil, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Telecom on February 19, 2009 at 9:06 pm

TELECOMS

Brazil’s largest mobile phone company Vivo Participacoes (VIVO4.SA)(VIV.N) said on Friday its fourth-quarter profit surged nearly ten-fold because of a sharp increase in new users and as it kept costs in check (Reuters).

BUSINESS NEWS

Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) has no comment on newspaper reports it is in takeover talks with Brazilian generic drugmaker Medley, the world’s third largest drugmaker said on Tuesday (Reuters).

Two of Brazil’s largest steelmakers, Gerdau and Usiminas, posted sharp declines in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, hurt by weak demand and foreign exchange losses (Reuters).

OIL & PETROBRAS

Brazil’s state-controlled oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) believes it may have discovered crude oil in Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, its international director said on Friday (Reuters).

Petrobras’ oil production in Brazil reached a monthly record in January, the company said on Tuesday, even as a global financial crisis hurt demand for commodities and knocked oil prices lower (Reuters).

Venezuela hopes to reach an agreement with Petrobras on the construction of a joint venture refinery in Brazil despite conflict over pricing and product marketing, Venezuelan officials said on Wednesday (Reuters).

Brazil signed an agreement on Thursday to supply China with 100,000 to 160,000 barrels of oil per day at market prices and expects to obtain billions of dollars in Chinese investment to develop its huge oil reserves (Reuters).

BANKING

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, three state banks and HSBC Holdings Plc will establish funds to finance Brazilian oil-service and equipment companies (Bloomberg).

Brazil’s central bank said on Wednesday it has approved a planned merger between Itau (ITAU4.SA), one of the country’s largest private banks, and its smaller rival Unibanco (UBBR11.SA) (Reuters).

Poll: How often do you visit Atlantico Weekly

In Polls on February 19, 2009 at 9:05 pm

Brazil Real “best positioned” Lat Am currency

In Banking, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade on February 19, 2009 at 9:00 pm

SAO PAULO, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Brazil’s real is the best-placed currency in Latin America to weather increased risk aversion caused by the ongoing turmoil in global financial markets, U.S. securities firm Merrill Lynch said.

Read the news feature at Reuters

Geocapital buys strong position in Cape Verde

In Banking, Cape Verde on February 19, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Macau, China, 16 Feb – Geocapital should soon enter the finance sector of a fourth Portuguese-speaking African country – Cape Verde – following Guinea Bissau in 2007 and Angola and Mozambique last year. The company belonging to Stanley Ho and Ferro Ribeiro looks set to acquire the 27 percent stake held by the Portuguese Montepio Geral in the Caixa Economica de Cabo Verde, the country’s most important bank commonly referred to as the Caixa.

Read the full story at Macauhub

Four wind energy farms for Cape Verde

In Cape Verde, Energy on February 19, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Praia, Cape Verde, 13 Feb – The government of Cape Verde, in partnership with infrastructure development company InfraCo, plans to increase energy production in the country by setting up four wind farms, the director-general for Energy, Abraão Lopes, said in Praia.

Read the story in Macauhub

CV authorities shut down Portuguese bank

In Banking, Cape Verde on February 19, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Banco Insular, which is involved in one of the largest financial scandals in Portuguese history, will no longer exist in Cape Verde as of Tuesday, February 17. The dispatch revoking the bank’s authorization and operating license was published yesterday, February 16, in the official state bulletin, and goes into effect today. With the measure, Banco Insular loses its status as an international financial institution. For the full article, read a Semana

An earlier article on the subject can be found here

Panama regulators seize local Stanford bank

In Banking, Panama on February 19, 2009 at 8:58 pm

PANAMA CITY/CARACAS, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Panamanian bank regulators said on Tuesday they had taken over the local affiliate of Stanford Financial Group after U.S. authorities charged the group and its founder with perpetrating a “massive” fraud.

Read the news feature at Reuters

Cape Verde: Halcyonair flying to Fogo, Maio

In Airports, Cape Verde, Tourism, Travel on February 19, 2009 at 8:58 pm

Espargos, Cape Verde, 19 Feb – Air carrier Halcionair Cabo Verde Airways is due to launch two weekly flights to the islands of Fogo and Maio as of 28 February, the company said in a statement.

Read the news feature at Macauhub

Angola news update, Feb. 19

In Angola, Brazil, Energy, Infrastructure, Investments, Mining, Oil, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on February 19, 2009 at 8:56 pm

INVESTMENTS

Brazilian oil company Petrobras Friday announced its international investment plan for 2009/2013 in the total amount of US$15.9 billion, 44 percent of which will be channelled to the United States and Argentina. In Africa, Nigeria and Angola will receive 12 percent and 5 percent of total investment, respectively, and a further 17 percent will be distributed amongst the other African countries in which Petrobras does business (Macauhub).

Reconstruction work on the railways and construction of new railway stations in Angola’s Malanje province, are in their final stages, resulting in 112 kilometres of railway and new stations, drainage ditches and bridges (Macauhub).

Construction of the strategic Lobito refinery, costing the state US$8 billion, will bring an end to imports of oil derivatives. The refinery will initially transform 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day (Macauhub).

Portugal’s largest builder Mota Engil (MOTA.LS) plans to invest part of a five-year 1 billion euro spending plan in Angola’s renewable energy sector, state-owned news agency Angop reported (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola’s Economy Minister, Manuel Nunes Júnior, admitted that the growth of the country’s economy would slow in 2009, adding however that growth would be “over 3 percent.”

Angola is considering acquiring diamonds from private companies operating in the country to help them overcome a sharp drop in prices, the a spokesman for state diamond company Empresa Nacional de Diamantes de Angola (Endiama) (Macauhub).

TELECOMS

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) on Friday said it had won a contract for network performance consulting and expansion of Unitel’s GSM/WCDMA network in Angola (Reuters).

TRAVEL

US air carrier Delta Airlines is due to launch direct flights to Angola as of June or September, the United States Ambassador in Angola, Dan Mozena said in Luanda (Macauhub).

Brazil “best placed” to come out of crisis

In Brazil, Economy on February 17, 2009 at 2:08 pm

BRASILIA, Feb 13 (Reuters) – “What crisis?” Brazil’s president famously asked as financial turmoil began whipping around the world last year. Six months later, that still seems to sum up the view of many Brazilians.

Read the full story at Reuters

EIU South Africa forecast 2009-2010

In Economy, Elections, Politics, South Africa on February 17, 2009 at 9:59 am

The Economist Intelligence Unit updated their forecast for South Africa.

See the full summary here.

EIU Brazil forecast 2009-2010

In Brazil, Economy, Elections, Politics on February 17, 2009 at 9:57 am

The Economist Intelligence Unit updated their forecast for Brazil.

See the summary here.

EIU Angola forecast 2009-2010

In Angola, Economy, Politics on February 17, 2009 at 9:55 am

The Economist Intelligence Unit updated their forecast for Angola.

See the summary here.

Oil-rich Angola looks to diversify economy

In Angola, Economy, Oil on February 17, 2009 at 9:41 am

The wealth of the Southern African country, emerging from almost three decades of civil war that ended in 2002, is looking at ways to diversify its economy and avoid the global financial crisis.

Read the full story at the Mail & Guardian

Ambitions of Petrobras

In Brazil, Investments, Oil on February 12, 2009 at 6:37 pm

Last month the state-controlled oil giant published its revised investment plan for the next five years. Its proposed capital spending of $174 billion over this period is bigger than the entire economy of Chile. By 2020, if all goes to plan, Petrobras and its foreign partners will be producing 5.7m barrels of oil and gas per day (see chart), more than half the output of Saudi Arabia. New refineries and gas terminals are planned, as well as drilling rigs.

Read the full article in The Economist

Poll: what are you interested in?

In Polls on February 12, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Tough times for SA economy?

In Economy, South Africa on February 12, 2009 at 6:32 pm

ANY lingering hopes that South Africa might escape relatively unscathed from the global economic storms were dashed on February 5th when Tito Mboweni, governor of the central bank, predicted that Africa’s biggest economy would go through “a rough patch for the next three to four years”. Any politician who did not pass on that message to voters was “living in cloud-cuckoo-land”.

Read the full story in The Economist

Fifth Portuguese Language Business Meeting

In Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Foreign Trade, Portuguese language, Sao Tome and Principe on February 12, 2009 at 6:27 pm

Fortaleza, Brazil, 10 Feb – The Fifth Portuguese Language Business Meeting, an initiative of the Council of Portuguese Chambers of Commerce in Brazil, will take place in Fortaleza on 28 and 29 September 2009, the Council announced in a statement.

Read the full story on Macauhub

Banco Espírito Santo plans for Mozambique and South Africa

In Angola, Banking, South Africa on February 12, 2009 at 6:26 pm

Lisboa, Portugal, 4 Feb – Portuguese bank Banco Espírito Santo (BES), via its subsidiary in Angola is analysing the possibility of expanding its business to Mozambique and South Africa, the company’s chief executive, Ricardo Salgado said.

Read the full story in Macauhub

Brazil’s Odebrecht rebuilds roads in Angola

In Angola, Brazil, Infrastructure, Travel on February 12, 2009 at 6:26 pm

Malanje, Angola, 2 Feb – Twenty two roads in the city of Malanje have been undergoing rebuilding work since September 2008 at the hands of Brazilian company Odebrecht including asphalting and installation of telephony and public lighting systems.

Full story in Macauhub

Follow

Follow “Atlantico Weekly”

Powered by WordPress.com