Cachamai Teas

Cachamai Herbal Tea Company is ready to take over the US market. They are the most important herbal tea company in Argentina, with 50 years in the market. Cachamai is ready to start its’ big push in the US, with plans well under way for national distribution and re-design of its’ image to accommodate to the taste of Anglo consumers. Cachamai is a natural product with a number of varieties well known to US consumers, as well as other varieties containing herbs not known in the US.

Lifan

The Chinese manufacturer of motorcycles and cars is in talks to buy one of the world’s most sophisticated engine plants. In the late 1990’s, Chrysler and BMW entered into a 50-50 venture to build a factory in Brazil that produces engines with the most modern US and European technology. Due to Chryslers’ merger with BMW-rival Daimler and other events, they are putting the factory on the block. With help from the Communist party, Lifan plans to buy the plant, take it apart, and transport it to China for re-assembly. Their strategy will help them learn about the technology and be able to compete in the US car market. Any attempt to buy a comparable factory in the US would be blocked, whereas Brazil lacks restrictions on the export of high technology. Lifan plans to export to Europe in 2008 and to the US in 2009.

North-South Consulting

Yes…one about ourselves! Among the upgrades to our website, North-South Consulting now serves as a portal to Hispanic news sources by providing links to most Latin American newspapers. The improved site also provides information regarding relevant upcoming events, including conferences and trade shows. And as soon as we are done with the content we will work on the image.

Wal-Mart

Increasing the pace of it’s expansion into Latin America, Wal-Mart purchased a third of Central America Retail Holding Company (CARHO) from Royal Ahold. CARHO is one of the largest retailers in Central America, with 363 stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Panama

As a way to refinance its’ public debt, Panama filed with the SEC, the US stock market regulator, to issue up to USD 2B in debt.

Lasercard

The US provider of high tech identification cards sold USD500K to Costa Rica. The optical memory cards, similar to the ones used for US green cards, will be issued to non-citizens living in Costa Rica.

Cementos Argos

As part of its strategy to expand into the US market, the Colombian concrete company has bought Southern Star and Concrete Express. With this acquisition, Cementos Argos’ total investments overseas is close to USD500M.

Uniban

The Colombian plantain and banana exporter formed a joint venture with Fyffes, a fresh produce company from Europe, to serve the US market. Fyffes will buy 50% of Turbana, Uniban’s US marketing subsidiary, for USD6M.

CEMEX

The Mexican cement company intends to raise USD1.3B in an equity offering in the US and Mexican markets.

Grupo Cementos Chihuahua

Marking the Mexican cement company’s first investment in South America, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua paid USD58.2M for 46.6% of Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento.  Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento is the largest cement company of Bolivia.

VIACK

To increase its sales in Mexico, this internet security company signed a distribution agreement with the Mexican technology company ConsferenciasWeb.

Placer Dome

Encouraged by the rally on prices of gold, this Canadian mining company is developing a new mine in Dominican Republic. The new mine will require an investment of USD1B. Part of this project is the construction of a power plant to service the operations. They hope to produce 12 million ounces of gold over 20 years.

Expensive high class beer

American taste is going high scale. Consumption of wine has grown a whooping 63% since 1991, taking market share away from beer. As a reaction to this trend, beer makers are releasing craft beers, produced in small quantities and sold at prices ranging from USD10 to USD100 per bottle. This is a great opportunity for small Latin American breweries. There are hundreds of producers in Latin America with high quality products, but with no way to compete for the mainstream market.

Gold

Given the well deserved rally of international gold prices, which outperformed the Dow in 2005 by 19%, there is renewed attention to gold. Traditionally, it has been very hard for small investors to take advantage of possibilities in gold. Investing in actual gold involves costly insurance and storage, and investing in mining companies stock is very risky due to the traditional volatility of such stocks. James Turk, a former banker with Chase, is trying to change this. He established Goldmoney.com, an internet portal that allows retail investors to buy “goldgrams”. The actual gold is stored in a vault in London and insured with Lloyd’s. The accounts are linked to the US automated clearing house, so funds can easily be wired in and out of the accounts. Another typical problem is a lack of reliable information on gold, which is tackled by the independent site goldinstitute.net.

The site offers independent advice and information on the precious metals market, and it follows some portfolios. Director Paul Airasian, an expert in the field for over 20 years, is about to make a push to gain exposure inLatin America.