Vale and Australia’s Pacific Hydro have agreed to invest BRL650m ($314m) to build two wind farms in northeastern Brazil, the Brazilian miner says. Each company will own 50% of the project located in Rio Grande do Norte state, and scheduled to be online in 2014. Vale said it will be the sole offtaker of the power for a period of 20 years. The partnership is to be the first free market and self-producer commercialization model for wind farms in Brazil, Pacific Hydro says, and represents a model allowing the Brazilian wind market to expand beyond the regulated energy auction market.
Category: Regions
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Barclays Adds Mexico Economist
Barclays has appointed Marco Oviedo as chief economist for Mexico. Based in Mexico City, he will lead the firm’s macroeconomic research coverage for Mexico. He joins from the public sector, where he was chief economic advisor to the staff of President Calderon. He was previously at the Hacienda’s public credit office.
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Fovissste Prices RMBS
Mexico’s government housing agency Fovissste has raised MXP5.20bn ($374m) through a domestic RMBS sale. The 2042 bond is denominated in UDIs and pays a fixed rate of 4.30%. BBVA Bancomer and Banorte-IXE managed the sale, rated AAA on a national scale. The lender previously visited the market in March, raising MXP4.06bn in 2041 notes paying 4.65%.
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AMX Continues Raising KPN Stake
America Movil (AMX) has raised its stake in Dutch telecom KPN by 8.7%, through further share purchases, bringing its holdings to 20.92%, it says. The Mexican telecom is trying to increase its participation in KPN to gain a bigger foothold in Europe, and launched a public tender for 325m shares to give it as much as 27.7%, running through June 27. Despite AMX insisting it does not seek a full takeover, KPN has attempted to thwart the offer. Deutsche Bank is advising AMX. Last week AMX agreed to pay $1bn for a minority stake in Telekom Austria, a move which was welcomed by the target.
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Sempra Taps Mexico CEO
Sempra Energy has named Carlos Ruiz as chairman and CEO of its Sempra Mexico subsidiary, it says, a newly created role to manage all of the US-based Energy company’s Mexican operations. Ruiz joins from boutique investment banking and infrastructure project firm Proyectos Estrategicos Integrales, and had served on Sempra Energy’s board since 2007. He was also Mexico’s secretary of communications and transportation from 1995-2001, and also has held positions at Pemex and Mexico’s Central Bank and Hacienda. Also, Arturo Infanzon has been named as COO of Sempra Mexico, moving from the role of vp of Mexican operations and Sempra International.
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Davivienda Hits the Road
Banco Davivienda plans to meet bond investors in Latin America, the US and Europe starting next week. The Colombian lender will kick start the 3-day roadshow in London, Santiago and Bogota Monday, followed by visits to accounts in Boston, Lima and Bogota Tuesday before wrapping up Wednesday in New York, Los Angeles and Medellin. A 144A/RegS 10-year Tier 2 transaction with expected ratings of Ba1/BB+ should follow, market conditions permitting. Credit Suisse and JPMorgan are managing the process. Davivienda indicated earlier this month plans to issue access the international markets for up to $500m, increasing from a previously indicated $350m 7-year issuance.
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US E&P Exits Vene
Harvest Natural Resources has agreed to sell its 32% stake in a Venezuelan oil exploration project to Indonesia’s PT Pertamina for $725m, it says. The all-cash sale concludes a process that the US-based oil company had initiated in March. In the deal, PT Pertamina acquires the stake in the Petrodelta project, of which PDVSA is a partner, by buying Harvest’s 80% stake in Harvest-Vinccler Dutch Holding BV. Net proceeds are expected to be $525m. The transaction is subject to government approval in Venezuela and Indonesia, as well as by shareholders. The boards of Harvest and Pertamina have each approved the transaction. As of end 2011, the Petrodelta venture controls roughly 194m barrels of oil in 3P reserves, a combination of proved, probable and possible reserves held underground, a 1% decline from 2010, following Harvest’s reserve review.
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Camargo Completes Cimpor Takeover
Brazil’s Camargo Correa has completed the takeover of Portugal’s Cimpor, ending up with 94.8% of the cement maker at the close of a public offer period, Cimpor says. The successful bid concludes a process started in March when Camargo Correa, starting with a 33% stake, bid for the rest, offering up to $2.5bn ($1.97bn), at EUR5.50 per share. At the time of the offering, Camargo’s InterCement unit planned, if successful, to unify all of its cement operations under Cimpor. InterCement would first transfer to Cimpor all of its assets in South America and Angola, in exchange for most of Cimpor’s assets in China, Spain, India, Morrocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Peru. InterCement would then offer those international assets to Votorantim in exchange for its 21.2% of Cimpor’s shares.
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UK Software Provider Buys Brazil Stake
British enterprise software provider Sage Group has purchased a 75% stake in Brazil’s Folhamatic Group for GBP125m ($197m), it says. It will pay GBP101m upfront and a GBP24m performance-driven earn-out on 2012 targets, and a put and call agreement is in place for 2015 for the remaining 25%, based on 2014 performance. “This appears a well structured deal, and Sage has not overpaid for what could become an important seed asset into LatAm,” says a Deutsche Bank report. It and other shops find an implied 13.4x-13.5x Ebitda multiple. The purchase of a market leader which is accretive immediately was desirable for the company, says a person familiar with the deal, giving a 13x Ebitda multiple for transaction. The deal should be 1%-3% accretive in its first full year, according to analyst reports. Sage sees Folhamatic’s 80% recurring revenue, market access in Brazil, along with the room for growth in the SME market as advantageous to its business, according to the company. Folhamatic founder and CEO Mauricio Frizzarin holds the remaining 25% of the equity. Sage, a software and services provider for SME businesses, was advised by Citi.
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Mizuho Gets WestLB Brazil
Mizuho has agreed to acquire WestLB’s Brazilian subsidiary, it says. The company did not respond to request for comment regarding the value, but Japanese and other media reports put it in the neighborhood of JPY30bn ($380m). The deal, which remains subject to regulatory approvals, comes as Germany-based bank WestLB restructures in a plan approved by the European Commission late last year that instructs WestLB to split off its business with savings bank and public-sector clients and gives it the option to sell other segments until June 30. WestLB do Brasil had about $1.5bn in assets as of year-end. Mizuho says the acquisition provides it a local banking platform that will extend its reach in Brazil with both Japanese and non-Japanese customers, specifically in lending and project finance, which have been areas of expertise for the bank.