Marcelo Odebrecht sentenced: Marcelo Odebrecht, former president of Odebrecht SA, Latin America’s largest construction and civil engineering company, has been sentenced to 19 years imprisonment by a Brazilian federal court. The sentence was for his part in the bribery, money laundering and organised crime charges brought against the company, which was found to be a participant in the lava jato (‘carwash’) scandal that engulfed the state-run oil company Petrobras. Marcelo, 47, is the grandson of the late Norberto Odebrecht, the founder of the company, known across Latin America for its involvement in large-scale building projects. Odebrecht’s lawyer, Nabor Bulhoes, said the sentence was “a serious error by the judiciary” and that his client would appeal against it. Curitiba-based judge Sérgio Moro, who has been at the centre of investigations into the multiple lava jato cases, concluded that Odebrecht and other companies formed a cartel, agreeing among themselves who would win different Petrobras contracts and manipulating contract prices to their benefit. Odebrecht operates in 28 countries and currently has a staff of 168,000 employees. Its revenue in 2014 was US$28.5bn. It has been involved in a range of international projects including building the Port of Mariel in Cuba, the Magdalena river waterway in Colombia, the Panama City metro system, and the Gasoducto del Sur in Peru.
Businesswomen big in beer: Carlos Slim is Mexico’s best-known billionaire, with a business empire based on telecoms group América Móvil and regular appearances in the ranking of the top five richest people in the world. But two Mexican women, both with interests in breweries, may be gaining a little more attention. Eva Gonda Rivera, with assets of US$6.6bn, is now reportedly Mexico’s richest woman. Since the 2008 death of her husband, Eugenio Garza Laguera, she and her daughters control 50% of the B shares in Femsa, Latin America’s largest Coca-Cola and soft drink bottling company, which among other interests also owns Mexico’s Oxxo convenience store chain. Femsa acquired a 20% stake in Heineken in 2010 in exchange for the sale of its Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma brewery, a transaction valued at US$7.347bn. Eva is a graduate of the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. The other prominent businesswoman is María Asunción Aramburuzabala, known as Mariasun, with assets valued at US$5bn. She is the granddaughter of a Spanish immigrant who arrived in Mexico in the 1920s and founded the Grupo Modelo brewery, acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev for US$20.1bn in June 2012. As part of the deal María acquired shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev (now the world’s biggest brewery) as well as a seat on the board. An accountancy graduate from ITAM, along with her mother and sister María has also set up Tresalia Capital, which has interests in real estate through subsidiary Abilia and in technology through KIO Networks.
American Airlines in on-off Caracas connection: In early March, American Airlines said it would again interrupt its New York-Caracas flights, ceasing the service in April. The airline said the decision, coming only three months after the service was resumed, was a response to low demand. It came amid signs of tough negotiations between the company and the Venezuelan government over the right to repatriate its Venezuelan earnings. The dispute had already led to an 80% reduction in scheduled services in 2014. In January, American said it was writing off US$592m worth of revenues that it has been unable to repatriate from the country. Total unpaid debts to all international airlines serving Venezuela have been estimated at US$3.7bn. American said, however, that it plans to maintain its Caracas-Miami service.
Pemex suffering ‘liquidity, not solvency problems’: There have been further signs of financial stress at Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company. At the end of February, it reported fourth quarter losses of US$9.3bn, an increase of 44% year-on-year, which brought losses for calendar 2015 as a whole to a gigantic US$32bn (using quarterly average exchange rates). Pemex has now lost money for 13 consecutive quarters; in 2015 crude oil output was also down for the 11th consecutive year. Jose Antonio González Anaya, the newly appointed director general, on 8 March told representatives in the Chamber of Deputies that spending cuts of MXN100bn (US$5.6bn) would be made in various areas. Pemex mangers would cut costs and improve efficiencies, including reducing travel and other non-essential expenditure, and restructuring the company’s E&P (exploration and production) division: this would make savings of MXN29bn (US$1.6bn). Another important area was a postponement and rescheduling of the capital expenditure programme, including exploration, and designed to save MXN65bn (US$3.6bn). González Anaya told members of the lower house energy commission that “Pemex is facing a liquidity problem, not a solvency problem, and through these adjustments what we are seeking to do is reposition and reshape Pemex as a state-owned productive enterprise, within a new legal and financial framework created by the energy reforms approved by Congress.”
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