Odebrecht creates new infrastructure company
O Estado de S. Paulo
Looking towards the "Brazil of the future" and the increased need of investments in infrastructure and logistics, Odebrecht has created a new company that intends to become a reference in the sectors of road, airport, and urban transport in the country in the coming years. By 2015, the new arm the holding has already committed itself to making investment of nearly R$ 5 billion (US$ 2.8 billion) only in projects that are in progress and in those inherited from its older sister company, Odebrecht Investimentos em Infraestrutura.
The strategies of the newly-created Odebrecht TransPort were outlined in the past five years, since the new CEO of the company, Marcelo Odebrecht, took office. The company will be presented the market today, at a time that "coincides" with an environment of effervescence in the public and private sectors. "We have a Government effort to meet such demand for infrastructure, through the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), for instance, and at the same time we follow a consolidation of the private sector segments", said Geraldo Villin, President of Odebrecht TransPort.
The portfolio of TransPort is, for now, made up of five assets. Among them, the one that should become the largest private container terminal of the Country, with capacity to operate two million liters of ethanol. Located in Guarujá (SP), in the left margin of the Port of Santos, the Embraport terminal was purchased in 2009 in partnership with Dubai Port World and it should go into operation in 2012. US$ 500 million are foreseen for the first phase of development.
In urban transport, the company is present in the operation and maintenance of the São Paulo Subway Yellow line 4, a 30-year concession executed by means of a public-private partnership. TransPort also has an eye on the concessions for the systems of Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) in major Brazilian cities and it shows great interest in participating in the development of the project high-speed rail that will connect the Rio to São Paulo.
Increasing the participation in road projects is another goal of the new arm of Odebrecht, which should be leveraged with the third phase of the program of grants of federal roads. The return of Odebrecht in that segment occurred in 2008, when it won the concession of Rota das Bandeiras (Flags Route, in Portuguese) in the region of Campinas, in São Paulo. The only sector of interest that is still not represented in the current portfolio is the airport sector. The first investments are directly related to the World Cup and the Olympics, events that will demand the enlargement of the main airports. The strategy of operation of TransPort foresees heavy investments since the phase of development of projects.