Category: People

Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GISSA) has named Adan Elizondo Elizondo chairman of the board and CEO. He has been a member of GISSA’s board since 1991 and has served on the boards and management teams of several Mexican companies. Ernesto Lopez de Nigris was meanwhile appointed COO of the foundry division, which includes the Cifunsa and Technocast operations. GISSA also names Juan Carlos Lopez Villarreal as COO of the construction division, which includes the ceramic tile, water heaters and housewares operations.

Brazil’s second largest sugar and ethanol company, SantelisaVale, is readying an IPO it hopes to be ready to launch as early as the second half of this year, CEO Anselmo Rodrigues tells LatinFinance. “We are preparing the company so that when the market reopens, we’ll be ready to go,” says Rodrigues, adding that a transaction could take place in the second half. Through a merger with Vale do Rosario last year, Santelisa shot up to the number two spot in Brazil by crushing capacity, behind only Cosan. Bradesco BBI – which wrote a BRL1.35bn check to Santelisa’s main shareholders days before the Vale do Rosario acquisition was signed – is expected to lead the equity offering. The remaining banks are yet to be decided on, says Rodrigues. Goldman Sachs purchased a 19% stake in Santelisa for BRL400m in July 2007.

Shareholder Marcos Adolfo Tadeu Senamo Amaro and Alexandre Goncalves Silva, former CEO of General Electric in Brazil, were elected to the board of directors of Brazilian airline TAM at its ordinary general assembly. There were no other changes to the board, TAM says.

The launch of the Caribbean Exchange Network, which connects the exchanges of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, has been delayed by several months, Marlon Yarde, CEO and general manager of the Barbados Stock Exchange tells LatinFinance. An original launch date was set for this month, but members are now shooting for the end of Q3. The exchanges submitted a proposal for the linkup to their respective regulators and since then, very little has happened, says Yarde. The joint platform would bring a much needed critical mass to markets in the area, encouraging “more activity in the markets, improved liquidity, better prices and more opportunity for investors to create wealth,” says Yarde. A second phase of implementation would allow the exchange to create an international gateway to facilitate trading from institutional investors, and also incorporate other Caribbean exchanges, he says.

Luis Pena, who stepped down Tuesday as CEO of Mexico’s Banorte, has been named CEO of HSBC Mexico. Pena replaces Paul Thurston, who will return in May to the UK to run retail and commercial operations. Thurston also served as co-head of LatAm with HSBC Brazil CEO Emilson Alonso, who will in May be promoted to sole head. Shaun Wallis will take over from Alonso as Brazil CEO.

Luis Pena, CEO of Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte, resigned from his position, the bank said Monday. Banorte did not give a reason for the resignation. Pena joined the institution, one of Mexico’s last big banks owned by local investors, as chief executive in 2004, and has overseen a period of expansion in Mexico and the US. Alejandro Valenzuela, head of treasury and capital markets, has been named interim CEO. Banorte gave no details regarding permanent plans for replacing Pena.

A rumored initiative to have UBS sell its Pactual investment banking unit just got a significant boost from an unexpected party. On Thursday, Luqman Arnold, a former CEO of UBS ousted in 2001 and whose fund today owns a $450m stake in the bank, sent UBS top brass a letter calling for major changes at the firm, including a sale of Pactual. Separate from Arnold’s public proposal, an internal movement headed by former partners of Pactual to buy back the shop is rumored to have been underway for months. And Andre Esteves, the former CEO of Pactual who was elevated to head UBS’ fixed income and currencies division out of London, was also heard to have proposed a Pactual buyback to the Swiss bank’s top managers – a surprising move given the fact that he spearheaded the sale in 2006. Local bankers away from UBS say he was joined by Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire founder of GP Investments, in an offer for the shop he ran for years in Rio. UBS denied Esteves is in talks to buy back Pactual and maintains it wants to keep the Brazil unit, which garnered significant profit in 2007.

Manuel Medina Mora will continue to lead Citi’s Mexico and Latin America operations following a comprehensive global reshuffle. According to Citi CEO Vikram Pandit, the reorganization will allow the bank to focus resources on growth in emerging and developed markets and improve efficiencies. “Citi has established a regional structure to bring decision-making closer to clients. It is empowering the leaders of the geographic regions with the authority to make decisions on the ground,” says the bank, which is under pressure after significant mortgage-related losses. Medina will report directly to Pandit, as will the heads of the following units: Asia Pacific, including Japan; Western Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Central and Eastern Europe. Citi has also reorganized its consumer group into two global businesses – consumer banking and global cards. It will also further centralize global functions, including finance, IT, legal, human resources, and branding.

David Neeleman, the founder and former CEO of US low-cost airline JetBlue and a Brazilian by birth, has garnered commitments from at least seven private equity shops for $150m in financing to start a new low-cost airline in Brazil, say executives close to the matter. Neeleman, who was ousted by JetBlue’s board last year, is set to receive a $70m installment this month and another $70m at the end of the second quarter from a group of private investors to start the operation, which still has no name. A consortium led by Connecticut-based Pequot Capital includes US firms Weston Presidio, Wexford Capital, Peterson Partners, Zweig Associates and Dimenna & Kadon. Brazil’s GIF Gestao is also investing in the venture. Neeleman has put in $10m of his own capital. The plan, say executives close to the process, is to use the equity to lease Embraer-made aircraft and set up the company, which will compete mainly against Gol with the low-cost model. The airline will be based in Sao Paulo and aims to commence operations in early 2009. It wants to serve most major markets in Brazil with as many as 76 brand-new Embraer aircraft by 2013.

The private equity-backed low cost Brazil airline venture from David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue, has placed $1.4bn in firm orders for 36 Embraer E-195 jets and has options for another 20 and purchase rights for a further 20, which would bump the total spend up to $3bn. Routes, cities and timing for the as yet unnamed start up are still being worked out, says Gareth Edmonson-Jones, a spokesman for Neeleman. Hughes Hubbard & Reed advised Neeleman while Mayer Brown Rowe and Maw advised the private equity consortium. No investment banks were involved in the process. “Our target market is the 150 million passengers who travel annually by long distance bus as well as those who, for lack of a convenient alternative, don’t travel at all,” says Neeleman. “The Brazilian market is ready for a third major airline and that there is sufficient untapped potential to support all of us,” he adds. Neeleman pledges to make money with fewer passengers than his competitors.