Category: People

Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA) has appointed Victor Bravo Martin CEO, effective from July 1. Bravo Martin has been CFO at OMA since March 2006. Before joining the company he was employed at Empresas ICA between 1986 and 2006, where he held a variety of positions. He succeeds Ruben Lopez, who has been granted a sabbatical. Jose Luis Guerrero Cortes succeeds Bravo Martin as CFO. He was previously an associate at Goldman Sachs in New York and has also worked at ICA.

Jose Salim Mattar, the founder, CEO and largest shareholder of Brazil-based Localiza Rent a Car has sold 14m shares, or a 6.9% stake, in the company for $89.4m or BRL12.7 per share. The shares were sold on through the Bovespa exchange. Proceeds will be used to pay down debt contracted with UBS Pactual. Localiza says Salim Mattar is still the company’s largest shareholder, owning 26.3m shares or a 13% stake. Localiza shares closed at BRL12.30 on June 4.

Morgan Stanley has hired a seasoned executive to boost its Brazil investment banking platform. Cassio Casseb, who has held CEO posts at Grupo Pao de Acucar and of Banco do Brasil, will join the Morgan Stanley payroll as a senior advisor, but will not have the specific sector coverage duties of an ordinary banker, says Charlie Stewart, Sao Paulo-based head of LatAm investment banking. Casseb will continue to serve on company boards he is already on, but will be tapped for his contacts and expertise when needed by the bank. As such, he will occupy a role that exists elsewhere in Morgan Stanley’s global roster. One example of a senior advisor in the US is Steve Oxman, a veteran lawyer and banker who today chairs the Princeton University executive committee. Morgan Stanley has also recently hired a senior banker for its Sao Paulo office. Marcelo Naigeborin joined after departing Itau BBA in February.

Banco do Brasil (BdB) says it has named Ivan de Souza Monteiro as CFO after Aldo Luiz Mendes resigned from the post to become the CEO of Cia. de Seguros Alianca do Brasil, an insurance company that is a unit of BdB. Monteiro has been with the bank for 26 years, most recently as business MD. Mendes, the bank adds, played a key role in adding BdB to the Novo Mercado listing, as well as in 2 follow-on offerings which increased BdB’s free float to 21% from 7%.

News that Temasek sold its stake in Bank of America is being taken as confirmation that the Singapore wealth fund is repatriating its money. However, according to a recent speech by Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching, the $134bn portfolio is rotating out of developed world assets and into developing, with potentially positive implications for LatAm. The fund is looking to maintain exposure to rest of Asia at 40%, keep Singapore at about 30%, cut OECD to 20% and add exposure to other geographies such as Latin America, Russia and Africa of up to 10%. “This rebalance is not a rigid target, but a re-weighing of the growth trends and the changing risks over the next decade or two, particularly for Asia. It also framed our decision to open new offices in Mexico and Brazil last year,” says Ho. The fund is increasingly more confident of Asia’s future and seeks to balance exposure between growth and risk. Temasek recently announced that Chip Goodyear will replace Ho in October.

Cemex CEO Lorenzo Zambrano spoke to the press and shareholders Thursday, but the vagueness of his remarks regarding a resolution with bank lenders leaves analysts uneasy. “I think [the market] was expecting something more about the debt talks,” says Actinver head of equity research Francisco Suarez, who says he shares the market’s apparent slight disappointment. Cemex shares fell 1.5% to MXP10.16 Thursday, despite a broader IPC rally. Still, Zambrano’s comment that a near-term resolution with regards to immediate maturities is in the cards gives hope that Cemex has gained breathing room to continue renegotiating. “It’s not very clear [what is happening with the] banks, but the positive part is that they were able to roll over short-term maturities and are working on a broader structure,” notes Patricio Rivera, analyst at Ixe. While Zambrano told reporters in a press conference that Cemex would seek to continue growing through acquisitions, dismissing the suggestion it would have to stop these in the next several years, analysts are skeptical. “I see Cemex having to work a lot for creditors and very little for shareholders in next 2 years,” says Suarez. “I believe this model of theirs to grow inorganically will have to change,” he adds, noting that after downgrades, Cemex’s cost of funding is much higher than competitors like Lafarge, which managed to keep its investment grade status. Zambrano also notes the company’s plan to issue some $200m worth of local shares in late May in lieu of paying dividends.

GP Investments co-CEO Antonio Bonchristiano says controlling shareholders of companies considering selling should not, as a general rule, get out at current valuations unless the firm needs to be restructured. “Right now there’s a big valuation gap,” says Bonchristiano, speaking at World Economic Forum meetings in Rio. The investor acknowledges a natural divergence between bargain prices buyers want and the 2007-2008 valuations that company owners still expect to realize. Bonchristiano says owners of good companies are right in wanting to hold on until valuations improve. Private equity activity in Brazil has dropped substantially since last year, he adds. His shop has been looking at distressed opportunities in Brazil mainly, but has not aggressively chased any big assets. A banker familiar with the a recent auction of Santelisa, for which exclusive negotiation rights were recently awarded to Louis Dreyfus, says GP was among the more timid bidders for the debt laden ethanol company.

Disappointing words from UBS CEO Oswald Grubel in a pre-announcement on Q1 results are accompanied by vague and ominous talk of getting out of some areas as the bank targets further cost-saving. “UBS will exit high-risk and unpromising businesses. The bank is currently conducting a review to make clear decisions about which businesses it will remain active in and grow, and which it will exit,” says the CEO. A spokesman at the bank declines to comment on what, if anything, that means for LatAm. Based on league tables, the shop has lost ground in the region over the last 12 months. No date has been set by which the bank needs to report back on the review of which businesses to exit, though there may be more on this when the bank reports Q1 May 5. UBS estimates that it will report a loss attributable to shareholders of almost CHF2bn in Q1, mainly due to CHF3.9bn in losses on previously disclosed illiquid risk positions, credit loss expenses and valuation adjustments on the last positions transferred to a fund controlled by Swiss National Bank. It adds that Wealth Management Americas recorded a positive result, with net new money of around CHF16bn. In order to adapt its size to the changed market conditions and lower levels of business, UBS is planning cost savings by the end of 2010 of approximately CHF3.5bn-CHF4.0bn compared to 2008. It expects to reduce the number of employees to about 67,500 in 2010. At the end of March 2009 UBS employed 76,200 people in over 50 countries. UBS plans to maintain its core business – international wealth management and the Swiss banking business – alongside global investment banking and asset management.