ECLAC: Brazil leads mergers and acquisitions in Latin America and the Caribbean
ECLAC reported that Brazil was the country that aroused the greatest interest from transnational companies in 2019, as part of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, since 53% of the total amount was concentrated there.
Among the purchasing companies were: Engie, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ), Delta Air Lines, Parkland Fuel Corporation, China Three Gorges Corporation, Hubei Energy Group, CNIC Corporation Limited, Millicom International Cellular, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) , Joyvio Agriculture Development and Lundin Mining Corporation.
In addition, according to ECLAC, the mega-agreements in the Caribbean and Central America caused the participation of these subregions to increase compared to the average of previous years.
Other relevant purchasing companies were: CGN Energy International Holdings, ContourGlobal, Advent International, Asterion Industrial Partners, International Housing Solutions (IHS), Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Wintershall Dea Deutschland, EnfraGen, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Zurich Insurance Group, and Perenco.
ECLAC
In the Caribbean, the purchase of SOL Investments by the Canadian company Parkland stood out. The amount of this acquisition was 1,612 million dollars. SOL Investments is the largest independent fuel marketer in the Caribbean and has operations in 22 jurisdictions in that subregion.
In Central America dynamism was observed in telecommunications companies, particularly those engaged in mobile networks: Spain’s Telefónica sold its assets with the aim of reducing its debt, and left the subregion.
Among the transactions that said company had planned, the sale of the operations in Panama and Nicaragua to the Swedish company Millicom International Cellular, and the sale of those in Guatemala to the Mexican América Móvil, was confirmed, ECLAC added.
In El Salvador, on the other hand, América Móvil withdrew from acquiring Telefónica’s operations and, in Costa Rica, after the failure of the agreement with Millicom International Cellular, Telefónica announced a sale agreement with Liberty Global for 425 million dollars.
Unlike what happened with mergers and acquisitions, the number of investment announcements by foreign companies in Latin America and the Caribbean showed an increasing trend in the last 15 years.
However, said ECLAC, the accumulated value in the last five years was also lower than that of the first half of the decade: the amounts announced from 2015 to 2019 were 18% lower than those of the 2010-2014 period.
Despite this, at the end of the decade there was a certain recovery in the interest of companies in carrying out new projects in the region, since in 2019 the amount of announcements grew by 35% compared to 2018, while the number remained stable.
