Appointments at Merged JP Morgan-Chase
The soon-to-be merged JP Morgan and Chase Manhattan named Joyce Chang and José Luis Daza as co-heads of emerging markets research. Chang will manage sovereign and corporate debt research and Daza will be in charge of local market research and analytics. On the investment banking side, five senior officers now oversee Latin America. Susana de la Puente handles the Andean region, Marcelo Podesta manages Argentina and Uruguay, Patrick Morin oversees Brazil, Eduardo Cepeda is responsible for Mexico and Carlos Ingham handles Chile. The senior officers all report to Brian O’Neill.
ING Barings’ Adds Latin Economists
Lawrence Krohn joins ING Barings as chief economist covering Latin America. Previously, Krohn held the same position at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Krohn has also worked at UBS Warburg and Lehman Brothers. Also joining ING Barings’ Latin American economics team are Freddy Thomsen and Mario Mesquita. Thomsen is leaving Banco Privado to be ING’s senior economist for Argentina while Mesquita leaves the IMF to head the ING’s economics research department in Brazil.
Citigroup Rebuilds Structured Telecom Finance Group
Donna Cordner has joined Citigroup as managing director and head of its Latin American structured telecom finance team. Cordner, who will report to Chris Beale, head of Citigroup’s global project finance group, leads a team engaged in financing and advisory business for telecom operators and telecom equipment vendors. Citibank has been without a leader for the Latin American telecom finance group since the death of Russ Jones in December 1999.
Cordner was managing director and head of telecom project finance for the Americas within Société Générale’s project and sectoral finance group in New York for two years. She was previously a senior vice president and held several senior positions in telecom finance at ABN AMRO. Also joining Citibank’s telecom finance group from SG are Javier Rocío, Thomas Fuller and Chris Cona.
More Changes in Paraguay’s Top Posts
Paraguay’s President Luis González Macchi announced that Francisco Oviedo, most recently administrative director of the presidency, would replace Federico Zayas as finance minister. No official reasons were offered for the change, but it is widely believed that the president’s dissatisfaction with the country’s slow privatization process led to the cabinet reshuffling. Paraguay’s minister of public works, José Alberto Planás, resigned recently, adding to the country’s continued political instability since the 1999 murder of Vice President Luis María Argaña. The assasination led to Macchi’s ascension to the presidency without ever having been popularly elected to office.
Banco Nación Names President
Enrique Olivera was named new president of Banco Nación, Argentina’s largest state-owned bank. The bank now assumes certain responsibilities held by the Secretaría de Pequeña y Medianas Empresas (Sepyme), a branch of Argentina’s ministry of economy. Former Sepyme secretary, Guillermo Busso, will become vice president of Banco Nación.
| Oswaldo Contreras |
Venezuelan to Head Up Citgo
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez named former military general Oswaldo Contreras as president of Citgo Petroleum Corp., the US-based subsidiary of state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). Contreras is the first Venezuelan to be named chief executive of the oil company, whose outgoing president, David Tippeconnic, is a US citizen. Contreras served as PDVSA’s vice president of finance and human resources and was a member of its board of directors, representing the company in labor negotiations. Citgo, one of the US’s largest gasoline retailers, refines 265,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Repsol-YPF Names New General Manager
José María Díaz replaces Roberto Monti as general manager of Argentine petroleum producer Repsol-YPF. Previously, Díaz headed Astra, Argentina’s fifth-largest oil company, of which Repsol owns 67.9%. Spain’s Repsol acquired YPF, Argentina’s former state-owned petrochemical company, in 1999. Recently, it requested authorization from Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Valores to purchase all outstanding shares of Astra. A ruling has not yet been issued on whether Astra will be allowed to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Repsol.
| Francisco Navarro |
New Latin American Executive at Global One
Francisco Navarro moves from deputy to vice president and general manager for Latin American and the Caribbean for Global One. Prior to joining Global One, he served as president of Telecom Colombia. Global One is a member of the France Télécom group and provides seamless IP, data and voice services for businesses and consumers.
Head of LanPerú Resigns
Lorenzo Sousa resigned as president and chairman of LanPerú, after a dispute with LanChile, owner of 49% of the Peruvian carrier. The resignation follows LanChile’s request to a Peruvian court to forcefully remove Sousa as head of the airline. The dispute between the two airlines centers around a $10 million lawsuit filed by LanPerú against LanChile, over payments LanChile failed to make for use of LanPerú’s cargo space.