Brazil

Guest view: Investors can shore up mining risks

6 February 2019

A $1.3 trln shareholder group wants better standards after Vale’s dam disaster killed at least 100 people. It’s a start. But real change means pushing firms on everything from profitability to climate change, argue Ceres’ Monika Freyman and Upmanu Lall of Columbia University.

Vale’s Brazil dam damage will hurt its peers too

29 January 2019

A second disaster in three years has already cost the mining giant $19 bln in market value. Fines and a management overhaul will likely follow. Fresh scrutiny from stakeholders will hit an industry already grappling with high costs, slow projects and risk-averse shareholders.

Vale disaster threatens Brazil’s deregulation push

28 January 2019

A lethal dam collapse wiped $18 billion off the mining company’s value. It may also derail President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans to bolster business by rolling back environmental and other regulations. Angry Brazilians and skittish lawmakers may want to go in the opposite direction.

Viewsroom: Global elite-lite takes Davos downer

24 January 2019

Pessimism reigns supreme at the annual gathering in the Swiss Alps thanks to trade wars, the U.S. government shutdown and rising populism. Several major leaders stayed away entirely. The event remains a networker’s dream, but self-awareness and problem-solving are sorely lacking.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro clears low Davos bar

22 January 2019

In his first overseas appearance since taking office, the president made a brief and vague sales pitch for a “new Brazil”. Business optimism about the country is running high, and modest changes can help deliver early wins. The longer term presents a more demanding challenge.

Brazil’s new president starts with the easy part

3 January 2019

Ex-army captain Jair Bolsonaro has fired a salvo of temporary decrees, favoring farmers over indigenous people and crimping NGOs. He may do the same to ease gun controls and start vital pension reform. But conquering Congress, which is needed for lasting change, will prove harder.

Brazil will get energy mostly right; Mexico won’t

28 December 2018

New regimes of opposing ideologies in Latam’s two biggest economies will wrestle with balancing 1970s-style nationalism against the need to open up to foreign and private capital to exploit their oil and gas resources. Brazil’s far-right president-elect has the better prospects.

Weed, China, guns and money lead most-read stories

27 December 2018

We promised 2018 would bring “Froth and Frustration,” and that’s just what readers got. Other topics that piqued your interest: Rising populism in Italy, Brazil and France; Broadcom’s doomed bid for Qualcomm and the sale of Refinitiv by Breakingviews’ parent. Plus, fake meat.

Boeing foots the bill for competitive misstep

17 December 2018

The aerospace giant lifted its offer for control of Embraer’s regional-jet business to $4.2 bln. It’s not the greatest deal – rival Airbus got Canada’s Bombardier for a song after Boeing’s aggressive trade tactics backfired. But it’s better to pay up than leave a flank exposed.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro gives China electric shock

5 November 2018

Beijing-backed energy companies hope to invest tens of billions in Brazilian power, but the president-elect has warned of Chinese intentions. Firms like State Grid would bring needed money and expertise, but populist suspicion might overrule commercial logic.

Viewsroom: Europe faces life after Angela Merkel

1 November 2018

Germany’s chancellor won’t seek re-election in 2021 and is stepping down as party chair next month after electoral setbacks. It may herald a rightward swing at home and less EU unity. Plus: investors’ embrace of Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro may prove risky.

Investors put excess faith in new Brazil president

29 October 2018

Markets approve of far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro’s election victory. Yet he’s only a recent convert to free-market policies and has odd ideas about the rule of law. Perhaps he can stick to his guns and dragoon Congress to fix the country’s fiscal woes. But it’s a risky wager.

In need of cool head, Brazil braces for opposite

25 October 2018

Far-right ex-army man Jair Bolsonaro looks set to win Sunday’s presidential runoff, riding voter anger over corruption, violence and economic stagnation. Prioritizing pension reform over strongman tactics would better address the nation’s ills. You can’t shoot fiscal deficits.

Brazil choice is how far back to wind the clock

3 October 2018

Elections on Sunday will probably send Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right nostalgist for military rule, and Fernando Haddad, a surrogate for jailed leftist icon Lula, into a two-man presidential runoff. Either would serve Brazilians best by letting his angriest backers down.

U.S. for once hits right note with Petrobras fine

27 September 2018

America’s foreign corruption laws often spark outrage about overreach. But penalizing the Brazilian state energy group $850 mln is a judicious result. It shows companies with ADSs will be held to account. And it mainly rewards Brazil’s authorities, which get 80 pct of the money.

Latam can exorcise returning decades-old demons

12 September 2018

Argentina’s peso crisis and the stabbing of a far-right candidate in Brazil echo the region’s past economic instability and political violence. Mexico’s oil industry, too, may revisit the 1970s; Venezuela is in a totalitarian time warp. But history doesn’t have to repeat.

Consumer giants have bigger problems than Turkey

28 August 2018

Unilever and Nestlé can resist a crisis in Turkey, which accounts for little of their revenue. But both will suffer if troubles spread across emerging markets, which account for about half of group sales. All the more so since Western shoppers are unlikely to take up the slack.

Latam’s market-friendly shift is at a parlous pass

27 August 2018

Argentina’s faltering growth imperils President Macri’s reforms. Mexico has delayed oil liberalization. Brazil’s main pro-business presidential candidate looks weak. Losing fiscal nous and foreign investment in the region’s biggest economies would hit business and the poor alike.

Brazil’s voters want firebrands, need the opposite

17 August 2018

Latin America’s biggest economy could use some competent fiscal stewardship. Geraldo Alckmin, a onetime anesthesiologist running in October’s presidential election, fits the bill. Many Brazilians, though, would prefer riskier choices: jailed leftist Lula, or a Trumpian demagogue.

Boeing’s $3.8 bln deal looks sleek, may not fly

5 July 2018

The aerospace giant is paying a fair price for 80 pct of Brazilian rival Embraer’s commercial-jet unit. Boeing can use the new joint venture to extend its dogfight with Airbus across the full range of aircraft. But Brasilia hasn’t signed off yet, and an election looms in October.