Foreigners resume appetite for operations in Brazil
Valor Econômico
A survey made by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows the appetite of the foreign companies for mergers and acquisitions in Brazil started increasing again, which is a sign that, with the resumption of the international economy, the multinational companies have already come seek opportunities in the national market. Between January and May this year, a total of 207 merger and acquisition transactions were made in Brazil. In 72 of them there was participation of foreign capital, whether in operations of acquisition of control or of minority shareholding. That is the greatest number of business made by multinational companies at least since 2004 and it represented 42% of all transactions made in the country in the five first months of this year.
In the same period of 2008, foreign capital answered for only 25% of the merger and acquisition deals. The peak of the foreign participation was reached in 2005, when they got to represent the majority- in other words, 51% - of the operations made in the country between January and May. But the number of business entered into that year by multinational - 52 - was lesser than the 72 transactions made this year. Among the mergers and acquisitions closed in May by companies of foreign capital are the acquisition of the area of oil and lubricants of Cosan by Shell, for US$ 75 million, the purchase of Líder Aviação by the Bristow Group, for US$ 227 million; and the acquisition of 30% of the capital of Cetip by the American Investment fund Advent, for R$ 360 million (US$ 171.4 million). In spite of the greater interest of the multinational and funds, the number of merger and acquisition operations in Brazil this year was 25% smaller than that of the first five months of 2008, returning to levels of 2006.