8/29/2008

Fiat is betting on old Uno Mille to maintain leadership

At a moment when buying Power is growing and Brazilian consumers are beginning to look for cars above the market entry level, Fiat Automóveis is launching a new version of the old Uno Mille, which has been on the market here for 25 years. But the new Mille Economy brings a solution for one vital point for a broad parcel of Brazilians and fleet operators: the pocketbook. With modifications in the suspension, tires, exhaust system and motor, the Economy flex 1.0 promises 10% economy in the city and 25% on the highway compared with the previous model. That is the theme with which the automaker hopes to increase by as much as 10% the sales of the hatchback, which currently has 14.5% of the sales in its segment.

Fiat president Cledorvino Belini is no man to lose opportunities. According to studies by the automaker itself, the market for cars costing up to R$27,000 (US$16,564) grew more than 50% in the first half of this year, well ahead of the 28% average growth of the general market during the period. 'The Mille is positioned in the band of the first zero-kilometer cars for families. So if you can offer more economy to these consumers, you will let them keep more money in their pockets to make payments, for example,' said Belini, speaking yesterday in FRortaleza (CE).

Publication: Gazeta Mercantil - OnLine News - en
Provider: Gazeta Mercantil / Investnews
Date: August 29, 2008

Delta looks to strengthen markets in North and Northeast

Whoever lives in the Brazilian North, Northeast and Midwest is not going to have to make layovers or connections through Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo any more to reach the United States. Beginning December 20, Delta airline will offer nonstop flights on the Manaus-Atlanta-Manaus triangle.

According to Christophe Didier, Delta vice-president for Latin America, the flights will respond to the demand of people who work in 100 companies in the region with parent companies in Japan and can use the Atlanta connection to fly directly to that country.

'Ecotourism will also will attract many Americans, Europeans, Canadians and Asiatics to the region. Two years ago, Delta insisted on a license to increase the frequency of flights, granted by the --- at the end of June in a bilateral accord between the two countries. We had the support of the local governments,' explained Didier. 'We are very confident in relation to Brazil, a gigantic country. In addition to this, there will be a feeder system for channeling people into and out of flights in the country.'

Publication: Gazeta Mercantil - OnLine News - en
Provider: Gazeta Mercantil / Investnews
Date: August 29, 2008

Embraer Delivers First Embraer 190 Jet to China's Kunpeng Airlines

Embraer delivered, yesterday, the first of five EMBRAER 190 jets to China's Kunpeng Airlines Co. Ltd., one of the largest operators on the Chinese regional aviation market. In July 2008, during the 46th Farnborough Airshow, in the U.K, Embraer announced a firm order for five EMBRAER 190 jets by Kunpeng.

"We are very glad to see our EMBRAER 190 serving more Chinese passengers through the reliable operation of Kunpeng Airlines," said Mauro Kern, Embraer Executive Vice President, Airline Market. "We believe that the EMBRAER 190, with its superior performance, economics and comfort, will meet our Chinese customer's fleet needs, and contribute to its growth plans and success."

The aircraft is configured to comfortably accommodate 98 passengers in a dual-class layout, and will enhance significantly Kunpeng's operational capability.

"We are very pleased to take delivery of our first EMBRAER 190 jet, which we believe will be an ideal aircraft for us to explore the emerging Chinese regional aviation market," said Mr. Li Kun, Vice Chairman of the Board and President of Shenzhen Airlines Co., Ltd. "With this reliable new model entering service, we will be dedicated to building our company into the most sizable, characteristic, and competitive regional airline in mainland China."

Kunpeng Airlines is a joint venture between China's Shenzhen Airlines and the Mesa Air Group, of the United States, with the Chinese party holding the larger share. It officially started operations in September 2007, and has established more than 20 routes to date.

Publication: PR Newswire
Provider: PR Newswire
Date: August 29, 2008

Timber company buys pig iron maker in Brazil

Cikel, a timber company with an area covering around 500,000 hectares of forests mainly in northern Brazil states, has recently acquired Terra Norte Metais, a pig iron maker located in Marabá city in Pará state.

In an interview with Steel Business Briefing, Manoel Pereira Dias, a Cikel director, said both blast furnaces at Terra Norte are being relined at the moment. One will come back on stream in the beginning of September, and the other in the first days of October.

Cikel is currently working on a five-year plan for the plant, which is expected to be concluded by the end of this year. The executive did not discount a possible future move into steelmaking.

The company supplies trees for several pig iron makers from the Carajás region, but Dias told SBB that this acquisition of Terra Norte will not affect these sales. Besides timber, Cikel also has businesses in logistics, packaging and agribusiness, among others, notes SBB.

Terra Norte has capacity to produce around 12,000 tonnes of pig iron per month, or some 144,000 t/year.

Soon both parties – Cikel and Terra Norte – will disclose the value of the transaction, said Dias.

Publication: SBB - Steel Business Briefing
Provider: Steel Business Briefing
Date: August 29, 2008

8/21/2008

Solví plans to double revenues, invest in new sectors

Brazilian engineering firm Solví announced its intention to double revenues to 2bn reais (US$1.2bn) by 2012, local financial newspaper Valor Econômico reported.

The company plans to invest 1bn reais to increase its presence in water, sewerage and solid waste services, as well as debuting in the energy and construction sectors.

The group, which currently has most of its contracts with the public sector, is also looking to extend operations to the private sector, the report said.

By diversifying its operations, the company plans to take advantage of the momentum in the infrastructure sector boosted by the launch of the federal government's growth acceleration plan PAC.

Solví currently owns Águas do Amazonas, which is the concessionaire of water and sewerage services in Amazonas state capital Manaus, providing 1.6mn people with water and 190,000 with sewerage services.

By 2012, the group aims to win four more similar contracts, increasing sector revenues from a 20% share to a 32% share.

Solví has already started operating in the construction sector, but in Peru, with an investment of US$50mn to build a highway in Lima.

The contract was signed in June and works should be finished by the end of 2009. The aim, however, is to have a construction unit that supports the group's other activities. The construction segment should make up a 6% share of revenue by 2012.

Solví currently has solid waste concessions in 17 Brazilian municipalities and three in Peru, in partnership with a local company. It also manages five landfills in Brazil.

The Solví holding was created from the restructuring of Vega Engenharia Ambiental and Águas do Amazonas, after the departure of French multinational Suez in 2006.

The proposed changes will cause Vega billing to fall from the current 58% to something around 40-45% by 2012. However Vega investments are expected to grow, with plans to build 20 more landfills and continue searching for new concessions.

Publication: Business News Americas - English News
Provider: Business News Americas
Date: August 20, 2008

8/18/2008

Banco do Brasil wants to incorporate Nossa Caixa by November

Banco do Brasil (BB) is in the phase of final adjustment in its analysis of the assets of Banco Nossa Caixa, and in the coming weeks it should begin negotiating the price with the sp state government, owner of the institution that BB wants to incorportate before the end of this year, according to its president, Francvisco Lima Neto, speaking last Friday in São Paulo city, where he presented BB results for the first half of the year.

Lima Neto said that BB 'is well equipped' to begin the negotiations. The analysis of documents, numbers and information about Nossa Caixa was finished August 5. Despite acknowledging that the transaction is more complex than its incorporation of Banco do Estado de Santa Catarina (Besc) (which BB hopes to finalize in September or October) due to the volume of assets and the size of the Nossa Caixa operation, Lima Neto said that BB is working to reach an accord by the end of November. The Plan is to send the proposal to the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly, which must approve the deal, before it begins its yearend recess.

If it incorporates the Paulista bank, BB will issue stock to pay for the transaction, said Aldo Luiz Mendes, vice-president of finances, the capitals market and investor relations, who also analyzed the purchase of Banco do Piauí, a process which is still in the initial phase but which should be similar to Besc, he said. Also in the initial phase of talks is the incorporation of Banco de Brasília.

Publication: Gazeta Mercantil - OnLine News - en
Provider: Gazeta Mercantil / Investnews
Date: August 18, 2008

Brazil airline TAM receives 1st of eight boeing aircraft

Brazil's largest airline, TAM Linhas Aéreas, has received the first of eight 777-300ER aircraft bought from Boeing, the company said in a statement Monday.
The jet will be used for daily flights between São Paulo and Frankfurt, and São Paulo and London.

Prior to that, TAM will initially use the plane for its São Paulo-Santiago de Chile route.

The 777-300ER is a three-class aircraft with capacity for up to 365 passengers, TAM said.

With the latest jet, TAM's fleet has expanded to 116 aircraft.

Publication: Agência Estado - AEBrazil English News
Provider: Agência Estado
Date: August 18, 2008

8/14/2008

Gerdau Açominas to further expand capacity

Gerdau’s board recently approved an investment to expand capacity at its Açominas works by another 500,000 tonnes per year, following the mill's recently concluded expansion from 3m t/y to 4.5m t/y, Gerdau CEO André Gerdau Johannpeter said during a conference call monitored by Steel Business Briefing.

Johannpeter said US$277m will be spent on the new project, which is expected to be concluded by 2010.

Asked by SBB whether Gerdau would be willing to produce rails with the extra 500,000 t/y of capacity, since domestic demand for the product has been increasing (see related story), the executive said output would be designated for longs steel products such as rebar and wire rod.

Gerdau’s CEO also said studies regarding an EAF longs plant in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, as recently reported by SBB, point to an annual capacity of 500,000 t in the mill's first phase, before ultimately reaching up to 1m t/y.

Publication: SBB - Steel Business Briefing
Provider: Steel Business Briefing
Date: August 14, 2008

8/12/2008

Vale orders 12 new vessels for Asian 'shuttle service'

Brazilian iron ore giant Vale signed a contract with China's Rongsheng Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries for the construction of 12 large ore carriers, each with a capacity of 400,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt).

In a statement sent to Steel Business Briefing, Vale says those will be the largest ore carriers to be built in the world. They will form the central element of the company's “shuttle service” carrying iron ore from Brazil to Asia.

Vale had previously announced the construction of four 388,000 dwt ships, one 300,000 dwt and one 290,000 dwt converted crude carrier. Together with the new ships and three already existing Capesize vessels, the company will have a fleet with an estimated capacity to transport 30.2m tonnes/year of iron ore from Brazil to Asia.

The first of the new vessels is expected to be delivered at the beginning of 2011, says Vale, adding the completion of the order is expected to take place in 2012.

Vale will invest US$1.6bn in this contract. "This capital expenditure is in addition to our investment program of US$59bn for 2008-2012," says the company.

Publication: SBB - Steel Business Briefing
Provider: Steel Business Briefing
Date: August 12, 2008

Rio Tinto in advanced talks on Brazilian steelworks project

Rio Tinto is near to an agreement with two companies for the construction of a steelworks in Corumbá city, in Brazil's midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Last week the company announced plans for a substantial expansion of its iron ore mining operations in the region.

“Rio Tinto has started procedures to get the construction license, but steelmaking is not part of our core business,” said a company director, stressing that the miner will not have any participation in the steel project.

Talks about the new steel plant started back in 2005 with more than 10 companies, local and foreign, as reported by Steel Business Briefing. The technology used should be based on natural gas, taking advantage of the good supply in Corumbá. Initially, capacity should stand at 1m tonnes/year for the production of billets, other semis or finished steel.

“The success of the steel plant will impact the following phases of our expansion plans in iron ore,” said the director about Rio Tinto’s plan to expand its iron ore production to 23m t/y.

Publication: SBB - Steel Business Briefing
Provider: Steel Business Briefing
Date: August 12, 2008

8/11/2008

Nestle increases yoghurt sales in the Northeast

Nestle is actively marketing & promoting its functional yoghurt Nesvita in the Northeast region and so far rose (Jan - June 2008) sales by 116% to 403,900 Kg, and is waging competition with the market leader, Danone's Activia, that sold 414,100 Kg, 14 % less than one 2007.

Activia's light yoghurt leads the segment in the Northeast with 651 m tons, while Nesvita sold only 66.9 m tons. Head honcho Nestle, Ivan Zurita, says lower prices and the target in low income consumers allied to a regionalization strategy are benefiting sales.

Publication: SABI - Business News
Provider: South American Business Information
Date: August 11, 2008

Banco Lemon focus consumer lending

Banco Lemon, controlled by Argentinean and Venezuelan investors, headquartered at Swiss and formerly known as Lemon Bank, is negotiating partnerships with retailers targeting credit to low income customers.

Operations began on June and as of July the portfolio reached R$1.5mil and most likely should top the initial goal of R$5mil by end 2008. General manager Gilberto Salomo, former executive with Fininvest, says the first deal was entered with the furniture and appliances retailer Hermol, with 40 stores, and also with the chains Panagon, Jumbo Moveis and others. Currently it offers financial services in 110 stores.

Publication: SABI - Business News
Provider: South American Business Information
Date: August 11, 2008

Brazil: Folha de Sao Paulo leads newspaper market

Folha newspaper publisher leads with a 7,2% share the Brazilian daily newspapers market estimated at 4.39mil copies over Jan - June. Folha de Sao Paulo has a daily circulation of 317.300 copies, followed by Extra (Globo group) with 301.300, GO Globo with 291.800 copies, O Estado de Sao Paulo with 257.800 copies.

The data is provided by the circulation institute IVC, which points to a 5,3% growth of copies on June 2008 to 4.3mil compared with June 2007.

Publication: SABI - Business News
Provider: South American Business Information
Date: August 11, 2008