Thursday, March 04, 2004

Latin American land rush The deal between Interbrew and AmBev is only one of a several Latin American acquisitions by multinational companies. As companies in mature markets seek growth, they see relatively stable Third World countries as the likeliest place to expand. While companies fled from Latin America a few years ago, solid economic performance in countries like Brazil and Mexico are bringing hem back for bargains. According to a Wall Street Journal article ("M&A Deals Heat Up in Latin America As Foreigners Return", 3/4/2004), a number of deals and possible deal confirm this trend. Beyond the Interbrew deal, the article mentions: Wal-Mart's acquired the 118-stiore Bompreco supermarket chain, which it bought from fading Dutch multinational Ahold British banker HSBC last year bought the Brazilian operations Lloyds TBS Group Spain's Banco Vizcaya Argentaria snapped up the remaining 41% of Mexico's Grupo Financero for $4.1 billion Swiss cement company Holcim bought out the remainder of its Mexican subsidiary Holcim Apasco. Other interested multinationals mentioned in the article were Anheuser Busch, Citigroup, and General Electric. International interest in owning a part of the region's industries is growing rapidly. The best reason might be the slow process of organic growth in the region for companies like Wal-Mart that have tried with difficulty to grow their business from scratch. With established businesses going for bargain prices, we'll doubtless see an increase in foreign ownership. 7:37:24 PM

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