D. James Slattery has been named CFO of Capstone, the Canadian metals company says. He comes from Inmet Mining Corporation, where he was CFO for the last eight years. Copper-focused Capstone has a mine in Zacatecas, Mexico and is also involved in a development project in Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation.
Category: Corporate & Sovereign Strategy
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Ashmore Strategist Promoted to Head of Research
Jan Dehn has taken over as head of research at Ashmore Investment Management, where he was previously co-head of research, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The move follows the retirement from the firm of EM veteran and former head of research Jerome Booth, who remains a shareholder in the firm but will now pursue other projects through New Sparta, a private London-based office. Dehn has been at Ashmore since 2005, and was previously at Credit Suisse and the World Bank. Booth had been at Ashmore since 1999, and was previously at ANZ and the Inter-American Development Bank. Ashmore has $65bn under management in EM.
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Deputy to Leave Fazenda
Nelson Barbosa plans to leave his position as Brazil’s deputy finance minister in June for “personal reasons,” the ministry says. Dyogo Oliveira, the ministry’s deputy executive-secretary, will become interim deputy finance minister. Barbosa has been with the ministry since 2006, and was previously at the planning ministry since 2003.
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HRT Names CEO
Brazil’s HRT Participacoes em Petroleo has named Milton Franke as CEO, it says. He replaces Marcio Rocha Mello, who announced this past weekend his resignation as CEO of the exploration and production company after three years in the post. Mello remains as a board member. Franke has been with HRT since 2009, in positions overseeing engineering, drilling and production. He previously worked at Petrobras and Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Wagner Peres, president of HRT America, is also stepping down from his role, though he stays on with the board of directors. A replacement for Pires has not been named.
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Fund manager rankings: Commodities fears take hold
Fund managers are trimming commodities exposures in favor of consumer and other industries, a survey of leading managers has found.
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HRT CEO Resigns
Marcio Rocha Mello has resigned as CEO of Brazilian oil company HRT Participacoes em Petroleo, the company says. He has been the chief for three years, and will remain as a board member. HRT does not give any indication of who will replace Mello after the move, which came as something of a surprise. “The board asked him to reconsider his decision, but he held to it,” the company says.
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Natixis Hires ex-Credit Agricole Banker
Jean-Philippe Adam has been hired as head of Natixis’s LatAm platform, in a new role at the French bank, Natixis says. Based in New York, he will oversee the wholesale banking activities in the Latin American region, including a bank in Brazil and representative offices in Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. He comes to the role from Credit Agricole, where he was managing director and head of loan syndications for Latin America until leaving last month. He will report to Stephane About, CEO and head of Natixis’s wholesale banking Americas platform.
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S&P Lowers Marfrig
S&P has lowered Marfrig Alimentos to B from B+, it says, after poor results have prohibited improvements to credit metrics. The Brazilian food products company’s negative working capital and weak cash flows have prevented expected debt reduction. The agency expected some debt reduction and stronger cash generation to result in debt to Ebitda of 7.0x and funds from operations to debt close to 10%, a scenario that it now expects for 2014-2015. The outlook is negative.
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SMU CEO Resigns
Javier Luck plans to leave his post as CEO of Chilean retailer SMU to pursue personal projects, the Chilean retailer says. He is replaced by Marcelo Galvez, the company’s vp of strategy and human resources. As part of the transition, Luck will stay on with SMU until May 31. The operator of Unimarc and other stores raised $300m in an international bond debut in February, and has indicated it would consider an IPO in the near term.
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Commodities dip raises LatAm growth fears
EXCLUSIVE: An end to the commodities boom will drive down Latin American growth – even if prices stabilize at today’s levels – former IMF Western hemisphere director Claudio Loser warns in an exclusive article for LatinFinance