12/09/2008 10h58
Islamic people have US$ 80 billion for the Brazilian market
DCI - 12/09/2008
The Islamic Sovereign market has potential to invest nearly US$ 80 billion in Brazilian companies. The funds, according to declarations of the Officer of the International Area of Banco do Brasil, Ângela Martins, represent 10% of the approximately US$ 900 billion these investors have to inject in projects. "There are possibilities for the extremely short term. Any Brazilian company that currently works abroad and has assets outside the Country can apply for the raising of such funds", commented the executive, in an event held by the Securities & Exchange Commission (CVM) and the BM&F Bovespa in São Paulo yesterday. According to Angela, this money can be obtained by the sukuks - also known as Eurobonds - since these securities are the papers that are the most suitable ones to the Brazilian economy. The figure of US$ 80 billion mentioned as a potential investment is the amount that is currently under negotiation for these securities. As the Islamic religion does not allow the payment or collection of interest, the securities - that are issued by Brazilian companies as debts - have to undergo a series of adaptations, both in the system the company uses to raise funds, and in the Brazilian tax law. This way, an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) must be created and it will be responsible for managing a kind of company asset). "In the case of Petrobras, for example, a platform would be sold to the SPV and the very state company would rent it later to continue its operations, generating remuneration. The SPV, therefore, issues the Eurobonds and pays a kind of dividend to the investors", she explained. This way, the deal is made without damaging the precepts of the religion. "The food sector and agribusiness are very interesting for them. Because since they are countries that produce oil and its byproducts, it would be interesting to be involved with other products, so as to have a greater operation", she explained. In this case, however, the beverage and tobacco industries would not be able to raise the funds since they go against the laws of the religion. "Hotel and real estate are also on their focus, because they are in line with their proposals of investment and with the Islamic rules", she added. The relationship with Brazil is currently made through a direct foreign investment and the need of other kinds of partnership occurs because of the demand itself. The figures presented in the workshop show the effort is worth it. Just to have an idea, according to the data presented by the West LB bank, the sukuks issues amounted to US$ 597 million in 2006. In the following year, the volume was US$ 19 million, which represents an increase above 3,000%. In the year of 2008, it was US$ 13.4 billion, showing a reduction of almost 30%. "This market was also affected by the crisis", commented Therese Rabieh, Officer of the institution.
