INVESTMENT
Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is close to opening an office in Brazil that will run its growing Latin American business and is examining business opportunities there, a senior executive said (Reuters).
Brazil’s state development bank disclosed that it boosted its stake in government-run power holding company Eletrobras last month, a move that should help the utility gain financial muscle for investment (Reuters).
ECONOMY
Brazil’s government will increase its target for the primary budget surplus in 2010 to improve public finances as the economy rebounds, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said (Reuters).
MINING
Brazilian miner Vale is in talks to form a consortium with utility holdings Neoenergia and CPFL for the Belo Monte hydroelectric project, the president of one of Vale’s shareholders said (Reuters).
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, is restarting a $5 billion investment program for Brazil that was delayed by the world economic crisis, Valor Economico said, citing Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal (Bloomberg).
ArcelorMittal has chosen Brazil, India and iron-ore mining as its three platforms for investment following the crisis, Mittal told the Sao Paulo-based newspaper. The company may build another plant in Brazil, he added, without elaborating.
ETHANOL
Brazilian ethanol and sugar groups ETH Bioenergia and Brenco said they have signed an agreement to study a merger which could create one of Brazil’s largest biofuel producers (Reuters).
BUSINESS
Hypermarcas, the largest Brazilian maker of toiletries and over-the-counter medicines, agreed to buy two domestic condom makers for $221 million to increase its presence in Brazil’s beauty care and medicine sectors, Chief Executive Claudio Bergamo told Reuters in an interview (Reuters).
TELECOM
Spain’s Telefonica offered to buy Brazilian telecommunications company GVT for 6.5 billion reais ($3.7 billion) in cash, seeking to trump a bid by French rival Vivendi (Reuters).
TIM Participacoes, Brazil’s third-largest wireless carrier, will speed up its 7 billion reais ($4 billion) investment plan for 2009-2011 to expand voice and data services across the country, its chief executive said (Reuters).
OIL
Brazilian oil and gas company OGX said it found traces of oil in shallow water in the offshore Campos Basin (Reuters).
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will have to pay Brazil’s Petrobras $400 million when it signs a final deal for a tentative 40 percent stake in the Abreu e Lima refinery, a Petrobras director said (Reuters).
Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras may explore for deep-sea oil reserves to the north of existing subsalt prospects, possibly extending the range of the vast offshore deposits, a company director said (Reuters).
Odebrecht SA, a Brazilian engineering company, said it obtained $1.5 billion from banks to finance the construction of two drilling rigs it will lease to state-controlled oil producer Petrobras (Bloomberg).
BANKING
Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s largest bank by assets, plans more takeovers in the insurance market as it expands its pension, health and other units, Chief Executive Aldemir Bendine said. The bank may also expand a joint venture with Spain’s Mapfre to other countries in Latin America, Africa, Japan and the United States, Bendine said (Reuters).
