The Organization of American States will begin the process of electing a new secretary-general from scratch again, starting with new nominations, following a fifth 17-17 tie vote Monday. A new vote is scheduled for May 2. Chile’s Interior Minister José Insulza tied with Ernesto Derbez, the former foreign minister of Mexico and a former World Bank official. Insulza had the support of most major South American countries, the Caribbean Community and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez.
Category: Daily Brief
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Citigroup Wins Victory
Citigroup won approval from Brazilian regulators to retake control of three phone companies, defeating a challenge by the former manager of its $728 million investment fund, Daniel Dantas. The decision clears one obstacle to Citigroup’s plans for removing Dantas and the executives he named while he managed the bank’s shares in Brasil Telecom, Brazil’s third-biggest telephone company, and two mobile phone companies. Dantas has been fighting to stay in control of Brasil Telecom since March 9, when he was fired by Citigroup.
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Palocci: Lift Trade Barriers
Brazil’s Finance Minister Antonio Palocci called on developed countries to lift barriers on farm products from developing nations. Speaking at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, Palocci said a successful completion of the Doha Round of trade talks would translate into annual gains of $250 billion through 2015, with more than one third of that amount going to developing countries.
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Colombia Seeks Loans
Colombia is seeking loans of another $1.2 billion from the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). The highly-indebted country, which accounted for 12 percent of total lending approved by the IADB in 2004, has recently announced it would disburse $1.3 billion in emergency loans extended by the IADB in 2003. IADB president Enrique Iglesias has said that the bank plans to experiment in extending loans to Colombia in Colombian pesos.
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PDVSA Denies Supply Halt
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) suffered a failure in one of largest refineries in Venezuela but has not suspended fuel supplies to the United States. PDVSA has been in contact with its customers in the US, informing them that it was mulling different options to comply with its agreements, including utilizing a refinery on Curacao Island.
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CSN Buys Mine
Brazilian steelmaker CSN will pay Brascan Brasil R$100 million ($37 million) in cash and stock for Ersa, a tin mine and foundry in the Amazon state of Rondônia. CSN uses 3,600 tons of tin annually to make tin-coated sheet iron, one of the company’s highest-value products and plans to increase production capacity at the mine to 3,600 tons per year and output at the foundry to 4,800 tons per year by 2009.
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Pemex Issues Debt
Mexico’s state oil company Pemex auctioned a round of short-term bonds worth $44 million on the Mexico City stock exchange last week. The 28-day fixed-rate bonds pay a 9.78 percent fixed annual interest rate. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s assigned its mxA-1+ rating to the issue, Fitch its F1+ (mex) rating and Moody’s its MX-1 rating.
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Dantas Charged
Daniel Dantas, former Citigroup manager of a $728 million fund in Brazil, was charged with racketeering and breach of confidentiality in connection with a Brazilian probe into whether he hired security firm Kroll to spy on the government and business rivals. The charges, all of which Dantas has denied to the police, are preliminary and must be confirmed by a Brazilian court.
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Petrobras Studies Pakistani Projects
Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, is studying offshore oil and natural gas exploration in Pakistan after company officials visited the country last week. The visit by Petrobras officials comes after Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf visited Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in November.
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EFE Places Bonds
Chile’s state rail company EFE has placed roughly $100 million-worth of local currency bonds. The inflation-indexed 30-year bonds, which are guaranteed by the Chilean government, will finance part of the company’s $1 billion 2003-2005 investment plan. Fitch Ratings and Humphreys rated the bonds AAA. Demand for the bonds was 2.7 times the initial offer, with the final interest rate at 3.79%.