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March 29, 2007, 10:08AM

Shares of Brazilian Carrier Gol Surge
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Shares of Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes surged Thursday, after the company agreed to buy struggling rival Varig for $275 million in cash and stock. [...] Gol, the country's No. 2 carrier, said the deal to acquire Varig, Brazil's former flagship carrier, includes $98 million in cash, 6.1 million nonvoting shares and the assumption of $45 million of debentures. It will continue to operate the two as separate brands, with Gol remaining a low-cost, low-fare airline and Varig offering more upscale services.

Brazil Editor Carlos Adese in Latin Trade, March 2005...

Fasten Your Seatbelts
Cutting costs, TAM Airlines follows low-cost Gol's model to cater to Brazil's growing airline business.

[...] Some in the government believe that Varig could be profitable, yet they recognize that the airline's debts are nearly impossible to pay. Executives at TAM and Gol declined to comment on Varig's problems. Behind the scenes, the two companies are quietly negotiating with the government the possibility of taking control of Varig's national and international market share without taking on its overwhelming debts. Other pending items for Varig include the airline's employees pension fund and mileage credits owed to thousands of Varig frequent-fliers. On top of these unknowns, internal disputes rage inside the government itself over the best course for the former airline giant, a sure sign that progress will be slow at best. The battle to save Varig could turn out to be a long flight with many stops along the way.

Adese and Rueda, the dream team

CNNMoney today... good story, nice and clear, quotes a couple of analysts...

Wal-Mart's plan to conquer the world

Failure in Germany, South Korea show the retail powerhouse is fallible. But as its home market shrinks, Wal-Mart has no choice but to find success overseas.

By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com senior writer
March 27 2007: 5:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite Wal-Mart's wobbly track record overseas, industry experts say it's becoming more crucial than ever for the world's largest retailer to get its international act together, and quickly.

Here's why.

Wal-Mart is running out of room to grow in the United States, its largest market, where it already operates about 4,000 stores. With each new store, it risks eroding sales at older stores.

Sure enough, sales growth at older stores open at least a year, known in the industry as same-store sales, have slowed considerably, growing 1 to 3 percent on average during the last three years from more than 5 percent previously. That puts Wal-Mart behind its archrival Target Corp.

...

Latin Trade Brazil Editor Carlos Adese and Mexico Correspondent Marisol Rueda in Latin Trade, July 2006 ... ONE YEAR AGO... huge detail, Wal-Mart sources, spans the Americas with no punches pulled...

Hello World
U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart leans heavily on Latin America for growth abroad.

Brazilian homemaker Divina Guerra dos Santos is a key target for global retail giant Wal-Mart in its bid to drive growth outside of the United States. As she wanders the aisles of a Wal-Mart Todo Dia in Taboão da Serra near São Paulo her view of the Arkansas behemoth sums up the retailer’s strategy for success in Brazil: “It’s nice, clean, with attentive clerks and the best possible prices.”

The Wal-Mart growth strategy outside the United States is a bet to avoid a crunch that is clearly coming: The U.S market is huge, but it just won’t grow at the same rate in the coming decades. So Wal-Mart is headed around the planet in search of new opportunities. Nearly 41% of its 6,534 stores and more than a half-million employees (of 1.8 million total workers) are now abroad in 15 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. International sales in fiscal 2006 were US$62.72 billion—20.1% of the company’s total and up 11.4% from the previous year. The retailer also is in Germany, Canada, the U.K., South Korea, Japan and it is just beginning its assault on China.

Crystal Ball

El Mercurio today...

Inauguran red WiMax para Santiago y quince ciudades del país

María Pastora Sandoval, El Mercurio Online

SANTIAGO.- Esta mañana se dio inicio a las operaciones de la red WiMax de Telmex, que cubre a Santiago y quince ciudades del país, y que permite entregar servicios de conectividad inalámbricos de Internet y telefonía.

La inauguración, realizada en la plaza Gabriela Mistral de la comuna de Cerrillos, contó con la presencia del subsecretario de Telecomunicaciones, Pablo Bello.

El representante del Gobierno enfatizó que el significado de este tipo de lanzamientos es que “hay más competencia en lo que respecta a Internet y telefonía, lo que se traduce a mejores servicios y menores precios para todos los chilenos”.


Paul Harris in Latin Trade, September 2006...

No Strings Attached
Chile races to be the first wireless nation in the world, upsetting traditional telecom businesses.

Cities around the world are toying with installing free, wireless Internet for their citizens. Argentine wireless telecommunications company Ertach launched service in Buenos Aires province in March as part of a US$25 million investment. Korea is taking similar steps. In major U.S. cities, the debate continues over how best to close the digital divide by connecting smaller wireless areas into growing “clouds” of free Web signals, which could soon deliver cheap phone calls, television signals and, of course, the Internet itself.

Chile, however, is thinking big: free, wireless, high speed Internet from north to south, covering all 748,800 square kilometers of the country. It would be the first in the world to go nationwide with a long-range Internet technology known as Wimax, a major initiative and a threat, experts say, to any telecom company that misses the boat. “If Wimax replaces the fixed line then the old-style telco is basically bankrupt,” says Ronald Fischer, director of the center of economic application at the Universidad de Chile.

Crystal Ball

Bloomberg today...

Reserves plummet, leaving Pemex 'critical'
THOMAS BLACK
Bloomberg News

Petroleos Mexicanos, the third-biggest oil supplier to the United States, said its reserves of oil and natural gas have dropped by half since 2002 because of a lack of investment, leaving the company in a "critical" situation.

Jesus Reyes Heroles, the chief executive officer of Pemex, said yesterday the Mexican government, Congress, workers and society need to come up with a new model for operating the company, which is state-owned. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, meanwhile, called for shoring up Pemex while avoiding privatization.


Marisol Rueda in Latin Trade, July 2005...

Slippery Slope
Despite high oil prices, lack of investment at state-run Pemex means Mexico could soon become a crude importer.

After being a virtual gusher of cash for Mexico for many decades, state-run oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) seems to be on the verge of drilling a dry hole. The company faces serious challenges in terms of infrastructure and a critical financial situation that, among other things, keeps it from making the exploration investments it needs to counteract a gradual production decline at its existing deposits. If the situation remains unchecked, in a decade Mexico could become an importer of crude oil, warns Pemex General Director Luis Ramírez Corzo.

For now, the two main problems at Pemex are high levels of debt and the decline of its known oil reserves, according to oil analysts. More money is needed, clearly, but it's less clear from where that cash will come - outside or inside Pemex. New private financing, although not voting shares, is one route, although allowing Pemex to keep more of the cash it generates is another, less politically painful choice, and the more likely path, according to Pemex observers.

Latin Trade March issue is out

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Carlos Adese and Marisol Rueda, superstars

Wall Street Journal, page 1, today...

In Mexico, Wal-Mart Is Defying Its Critics
Low Prices Boost Its Sales and Popularity In Developing Markets

By JOHN LYONS

March 5, 2007; Page A1

JUCHITÁN, Mexico -- For as long as anyone can remember, shopping for many items in this Zapotec Indian town meant lousy selection and high prices. Most families live on less than $4,000 a year. Little wonder that this provincial corner of Oaxaca, historically famous for keeping outsiders at bay, welcomed the arrival of Wal-Mart.

Back home in the U.S., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is known not only for its relentless focus on low prices but also for its many critics, who assail it for everything from the wages it pays to its role in homogenizing American culture. But while its growth in the U.S. is slowing, Wal-Mart is striking gold south of the border, largely free from all the criticism. Like Wal-Mart fans in less affluent parts of America, most shoppers in developing countries are much more concerned about the cost of medicine and microwaves than the cultural incursions of a multinational corporation.

Latin Trade Brazil Editor Carlos Adese and Mexico Correspondent Marisol Rueda in Latin Trade, July 2006...

Hello World
U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart leans heavily on Latin America for growth abroad.

Brazilian homemaker Divina Guerra dos Santos is a key target for global retail giant Wal-Mart in its bid to drive growth outside of the United States. As she wanders the aisles of a Wal-Mart Todo Dia in Taboão da Serra near São Paulo her view of the Arkansas behemoth sums up the retailer’s strategy for success in Brazil: “It’s nice, clean, with attentive clerks and the best possible prices.”

The Wal-Mart growth strategy outside the United States is a bet to avoid a crunch that is clearly coming: The U.S market is huge, but it just won’t grow at the same rate in the coming decades. So Wal-Mart is headed around the planet in search of new opportunities. Nearly 41% of its 6,534 stores and more than a half-million employees (of 1.8 million total workers) are now abroad in 15 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. International sales in fiscal 2006 were US$62.72 billion—20.1% of the company’s total and up 11.4% from the previous year. The retailer also is in Germany, Canada, the U.K., South Korea, Japan and it is just beginning its assault on China.