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Friday, June 25, 2010

Light Oil.

Petrobras finds light oil in Brazil's Campos Basin

Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:27pm GMT
 
  
 Petrobras says possible discovery has light oil
 Find is within subsalt area of offshore Campos Basin.

SAO PAULO June 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-controlled oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA:)
(PBR.N: ) said on Tuesday it had discovered an unknown quantity of crude oil in the so-called subsalt region around the offshore Campos Basin.

The oil was found 81 miles (130 kilometers) from Rio de Janeiro state's coastline and lies at a depth of 4,536 meters and below waters just over a mile (2 kilometers) deep in the Albacora Leste concession, a company statement said. Petrobras said preliminary analysis indicated the presence of good quality, light oil.
The government hopes the massive oil reserves, buried deep beneath the ocean floor under a layer of salt in a basin known as the subsalt region, will help the world's eighth-biggest economy win the status of a developed nation and become a major energy exporter.

Petrobras said more drilling would be required to determine the size of the reserves and how viable it would be to recover them.

The firm obtained approval from its shareholders on Tuesday for one of the world's largest capitalization programs which it will undertake to develop the entirety of the massive offshore subsalt reserves, most of which were discovered in 2007.

Pre-Salt

The Future of the Brazilian Pre-Salt Oil Reserves


Ed note: Luiz Antonio Maia Espínola de Lemos works on oil and gas issues at TozziniFreire, Brazil’s largest law firm. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a lawyer at Petrobras, where he was general counsel for one of the company’s subsidiaries. Lemos has written extensively on oil and gas regulation in Brazil. Parts of this article were published earlier this month on PRWeb.com. Given the importance of the Brazilian oil and gas business to the Western hemisphere, we asked Lemos’ public relations firm to expand on some of his comments. We have edited his comments for clarity and style.


What is the pre-salt region and who is exploring and drilling there?


The pre-salt region is located approximately 170 miles off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean. The region likely ranges from Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina State, measuring 497 miles in length and 124 miles in width. The region is named “pre-salt” because the oil is held beneath deep and ultra-deep waters, around 3,000 meters of sand and rock, and an additional layer of salt that, in places, reaches thicknesses of over 2,000 meters, making extraction challenging.
Brazil is developing the technology to drill and recover oil from this region, but as more is discovered about the sheer size of this find it is becoming clear that foreign companies will also play a role in exploration, drilling, the development infrastructure, capital and human resources to fully realize the potential of this region. Indeed, foreign companies have already begun to play an important role by assisting in the drilling. Many of the world’s leading oil companies currently have a presence in the region with others are projected to begin drilling in 2009.

Why have pre-salt site auctions been suspended?
 
When the pre-salt discoveries were first made, international companies moved quickly to investigate. However, more research and exploration soon revealed the magnitude of the find was much larger than previously thought, and the Brazilian government decided to suspend pre-salt site auctions until a comprehensive strategy to manage and regulate these resources is in place. In other words, as those discoveries proved larger than originally expected, the Brazilian Government realized it was important to develop a comprehensive strategy in order to fully develop these new reserves and, at the same time, guarantee that such windfall wealth would serve as much as possible to the welfare of the Brazilian people. Such suspension first occurred when the government withdrew 41 pre-salt sites from the auctions in the 9th Bid Round in 2007.

When are regulations expected and what is the likely outcome?

The task force is expected to report back to the Brazilian government with new regulations expected to be issued this year still. In the first half of 2009 we will have a clearer picture, but at this point in time two potential scenarios have been discussed. The first plan, suggested by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and energy minister Edison Lobão sees the government creating a state-run company that would manage the development of the oil reserves in the pre-salt region through partnerships with any firm, including Petrobras, in exploring the pre-salt areas that have yet to be auctioned. The second plan focuses on raising mining taxes and oil royalties to provide more income from the find. Either change is likely to need ratification by Brazil’s Congress. The Brazilian government plans to invest additional funds acquired from those oil revenues in education and social development. Another goal of the future legislation is to develop the local industry related to the oil and gas sector, as well as create conditions for Brazil to become self sufficient with respect to human resources expertise and technology.

What will it cost to extract the pre-salt oil and how much has been spent to date?

The cost of producing oil from the pre-salt is unknown, but it some $400 billion is expected to be spent over the next 10 years. Petrobras recently announced an investment plan for the next four years, which foresees that $28.9 billion shall be invested in pre-salt areas until the year of 2013.
Furthermore, according to the Projects Manager of Petrobras, Antonio Carlos Pinto, the company has invested up to $1 billion in drilling 20 wells in the pre-salt region since 2005. Likewise, it was recently released in one of the major Brazilian newspapers that $270 million will be spent in the pre-salt during the year of 2009 for long duration tests in the Tupi field. For 2010, the forecasted investment is of $4 billion.
How long until the drilling is fully online and producing?
Pursuant to recent statements made by Petrobras’ CEO, José Sergio Gabrielli, the pre-salt reserves may take around seven or eight years from its discovery to start production activities. Before the global financial crisis, when the price of oil was between $100 and $150, the forecasts for production start-up were at around 2015. Nevertheless, by virtue of the global crisis and the plunge in oil prices, the investments related to the pre-salt area may have a longer horizon.

What price levels of oil are needed to support operations in the pre-salt?

Currently, there is no consensus amongst experts as to the minimum price levels required to support the operations in the pre-salt area. Opinions have been varying from $35 to $60.
Gabrielli recently said that Petrobras’ business plan for the period from 2009 to 2013 relied on a price of $37. According to the CEO’s announcement, the pre-salt area would still be viable at a minimum price level of $35. But BP, which has presence in the pre-salt area, has said that any operations in Brazilian deep waters, including the pre-salt, will only be commercially viable at a minimum price level of $60 per barrel. Finally, it is important to bear in mind that the decrease of the costs associated with the pre-salt development activities will depend on the scale of the oil reserves, as well as on the increment of the necessary technology to develop such areas.

Venture Capital

 
 
 Apr 2010. Source: AltAssets
 
Brazil-based private equity funds could raise up to $15bn from investors by mid-2011, driven by a growing economy and increased financial risk-taking, according to Reuters.
 
Last year, the industry raised $5bn, which could triple for the 12 months ending June or July 2011, with local pension funds and foreign institutional investors allocating more money to the asset class.
 
There are 257 funds registered in Brazil with a total of $45bn in invested assets, according to Brazilian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (ABVCAP). According to research carried out by the association, 2009 saw an increase of 21 per cent of assets in private equity in Brazil in 2009 to 2010, with 18 institutions successfully raising funds last year.
 
The dominant sectors for private equity investment are innovation and technology, but the asset class features in almost 90 per cent of government programmes in the country.
 
Earlier this week, Boston private equity firm Advent International closed a Latin America fund on $1.65bn, the largest fund targeting the region ever raised. Speaking at an ABVCAP conference yesterday, Advent director Patrice Etlin said that Brazil’s growing middle class, lack of government debt and healthy commodity exports were all points in the country’s favour, but that “workforce productivity, a poor transport matrix and expensive ports can form a bottleneck to growth.”
 
According to Maria Helena Santana, president of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil, one of the key challenges for the country’s developing financial sector was to make the industry more attractive to venture capital. "We have too much private equity and too little venture capital," she said.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Emerging Markets Investment - Brazil the Next China Like Miracle.


Just a few years ago, suppose you had known that China, a backward, deeply impoverished communist country, would quickly transform itself into the fastest-growing capitalist economy on the planet. And suppose you had invested $10,000 in the leading Chinese companies.

That single insight alone — plus a dose of standard due diligence — could have been sufficient to transform your initial investment into $50,000, $100,000, or as much as $200,000 today.
Even if you could go back just 19 months ... and even if you made no effort whatsoever to pick a better-than-average Chinese company ... your $10,000 invested in the Shanghai Composite Index would be worth $28,372 at the close of trading this past Friday.
Needless to say, you can't turn back the clock. But you can do the next best thing:
You can find a country that's almost as big as China ... boasts even more natural resources ... enjoys a broad, modern industrial base ... and is closer to the U.S. culturally, politically and geographically ...
but ...
is still on the launch pad, in the pre-take-off stage, giving new investors an opportunity to catch a ride without overpaying and without a long wait.

That country is Brazil.

Indeed, a few years ago, my staff and I looked at the world's four largest emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries).
We saw the amazing profit potential offered by their vast natural and human resources.
We knew that, despite serious social and political hurdles, they would start to grow by leaps and bounds.
And we picked the one that had the highest level of new investment pouring into the economy — from the government, from domestic enterprises and from foreign investors: China.
Sure enough, China took off. So did India and Russia. But Brazil, despite major fiscal improvements, lagged behind the other three.
Now, I believe that's about to change.

Hard to Imagine Brazil Growing Like China?

Then just look back to recent history: In the 1970s, Brazil was expanding at the China-like clip of about 9 percent. Each year, Brazil was boosting exports by approximately 20 percent. And within less than a decade, thousands of early investors became multi-millionaires.
But the party came to a premature end for one simple reason: Inflation.
The primary difference today: Brazil's inflation monster has been tamed ...
Twelve years ago, Brazil stopped rampant inflation in its tracks by introducing a new currency, the real.
Ten years ago, it passed a law preventing federal and local governments from spending beyond their means.
And starting four years ago, Brazil's President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (“Lula”), transformed the country from one of the world's most fiscally shaky nations into a model for fiscal responsibility.
Lula was born in a dirt-poor family in one of the most godforsaken regions on Earth — the parched and semi-feudal northeast of Brazil. With his mother, sisters and brothers, he fled to the industrial state of São Paulo on the back of a truck. And five decades later, he was swept into the presidency with a landslide victory.
In his first term, which just ended ...
He reduced consumer price inflation from 12.5% in 2002 to under 3% in 2006.

He paid off every penny owed to the IMF.
He slashed Brazil's total domestic debt load.
He boosted the value of the real from $0.28 to $0.47.
And he transformed Brazil's trade balance, formerly a deficit, into a $46 billion yearly trade surplus.
The market's response:
• When Lula first took office four years ago, Brazil's finances were so shaky and foreign creditors so frightened, Brazilian businesses and governments had to pay through the nose to borrow money — a whopping twenty-four percentage points in interest above U.S. Treasury rates.
Today, thanks largely to Lula's conservative fiscal policies, Brazil's finances are so sturdy and foreign creditors so encouraged, Brazilian borrowers are being charged less than two percentage points above U.S. Treasury rates.
• When Lula came to power, the São Paulo stock market was plunging. But now, it has been booming. Brazil's Bovespa Index rose 15% in 2004, 30% in 2005, 35% in 2006. And over the past five years, the most widely traded Brazil ETF (EWZ) has surged from $13.35 per share to $45.77 at Friday's close, a rise of 243%.
But from everything I can see, this is just the beginning.

Next: The Take-Off Phase

I have deep roots in Brazil. My first trip to Brazil was in 1953, when I was six years old. I attended primary school in the central state of Goiás, where the capital city of Brasília would later be built. I attended high school in the southern state of São Paulo, the industrial powerhouse of Brazil. And I married Elisabeth, whose family owns a sugar plantation in São Paulo.
I've lost count of how many times I've returned to Brazil over the years. But I've been going almost every year since I was 20. So that's easly over 30 trips. I know the country well. I am in close touch with its strengths and fully aware of its weaknesses. And I can tell you flatly: But Brazil is about to take off. Not someday in the future! Not if and when this or that problem is resolved! This year!
The clincher: Lula's second term in office, which began this month, helping to kick off a whole new series of economic reforms. Until now, for example, Brazilian entrepreneurs had to plow through endless amounts of red tape to start a new business and then pay at least eight different taxes to operate one. But starting this year, they will enjoy vastly simplified rules for incorporation ... just one, lower tax instead of eight ... plus double the supply of credit.
Also starting this year, investment in Brazil is likely to accelerate. Already, new projects approved by the national development bank have surged 36%. Ford and GM have committed billions to launch new auto models in Brazil. And most significant of all ...
Investments in new Brazilian projects will reach 25% of GDP this year, similar to the levels that have prevailed in China and India! This investment explosion is key. Without it, China and India would not be where they are today. With it, Brazil is, right at this very moment, revving up for an economic take-off that could rival China's and India's.
It won't happen overnight. Even Lula's forecast of 5% GDP growth in 2007 is being questioned by some analysts. But with surging investment, Brazil's economy has the potential to steadily accelerate to China-like growth levels by the end of the decade.

Your Next Steps

You can either wait for Brazil to take off ... and pay much higher prices for Brazil-based investments. Or you can act now ... and pick up Brazilian companies that are selling for lower price-earnings ratios than the equivalent companies in other emerging markets.
Brazil is best known for its production of agricultural commodities — first coffee ... then sugar ... then soybeans ... and, most recently, ethanol. (For details, see my free report “Ethanol Explosion! How to Profit.” 


But Brazil is also among the leading exporters of aircraft ... mineral ores ... metals and steel.
Brazil makes more automobiles than the U.K., Italy, Mexico or India ... and it is the world's largest maker of cars with flex engines (that can run on either gasoline or ethanol).


No investment is without risks, and Brazil certainly comes with its fair share. But consider some of Brazil's leading companies traded on U.S. exchanges:
Embraer (ERJ) is a $7 billion company which has steadily risen to the #3 spot among the world's largest aircraft manufacturers — ahead of Canada's Bombardier and surpassed only by Boeing and Airbus. The company is especially strong in the fast-growing market for regional aircraft — like the 50-passenger twin-jet ERJ 345 and the 37-passenger ERJ 135. And it makes military aircraft for transport, training and light attack — sold not only to the Brazilian Air Force but also to 16 countries in Europe and Latin America, including the United Kingdom, France, Greece, and Mexico. Since January 2002, while the Dow Jones Industrials has risen by 24.7% through last Friday's close, Embraer is up 102%, rising four times faster than the Dow.
Petrobrás (PBR) has done even better, rising twelve times faster than the Dow in the past five years. The company has achieved Brazil's long-yearned-for self-reliance in oil and is leading the country's drive to expanding ethanol exports. It supplies oil and natural gas to refineries in Brazil and sells surplus production in foreign markets. It refines, transports, exports oil ... buys crude oil and oil derivatives ... owns petrochemical companies and fertilizer plants ... plus invests in natural gas transportation and distribution, as well as electric companies.
But Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO) puts both Embraer and Petrobrás to shame: Its shares have skyrocketed 591% over the past five years, rising twenty-four times faster than the Dow.


It recently bought Canada's INCO copper mines, becoming the largest mining and metals company in the Americas; the second largest in the world. It is the world's largest producer and exporter of iron ore and pellets, the world's second largest producer of nickel, manganese and ferroalloys, and one of the world's lowest-cost integrated producers of aluminum.
Brazil's banks have also been growing by leaps and bounds. And the three key Brazilian-owned banks traded on the New York Stock Exchange — Bradesco (BBD), Itaú (ITU) and Union of Brazilian Banks (UBB) — have also beat the Dow by a wide margin. Bradesco leads the pack, up 362% since January of 2002, or over 14 times more than the Dow.

When I was growing up in Brazil, it was almost impossible for individual American investors to buy these companies. Today, it's as easy as buying U.S. shares: Each is available for purchase as American Depository Receipts (ADRs) right here in the U.S.
Or you can use the widely traded Exchange Traded Fund linked to Brazil's stock market index: iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ), up 243% since January of 2002 (nearly 10 times more than the Dow).

A Final Word

Normally, I spend the holidays with Elisabeth's family on their farm in the interior. But this year, it was their turn to come to Florida. And since Elisabeth's mother doesn't understand English, we subscribed to the Brazilian channels on satellite TV.
That gives her direct access to her favorite soap operas. And as an extra bonus, it also gives me direct access to local news and live events — including Lula's inaugural address this month. I missed most of the speech. But I caught his final words:
“God has been generous to me; more than I deserve.
“I asked for strength, God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
“I asked for wisdom, God gave me problems to solve.
“I asked for prosperity, God gave me brains and muscles to work.
“I asked for courage, God gave me dangers to overcome.
“I asked for love, God gave me people in difficulty to help.
“I asked for blessings, God gave me opportunities.
“I received nothing that I asked for, but I received all that I needed.”
Let's all pray for the same.
Good luck and God bless!

By Martin Weiss.




 

Future.

The country of the future finally arrives

With an export boom and oil finds, Brazil, the sleeping giant of South America is awakening.

By Tom Phillips The Guadian 2008.
But now its bigger than never mentioned.
Photography by: Douglas Engle/AP.





Sitting in his air-conditioned office in Guarantã do Norte, a remote agricultural town on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, local mayor José Humberto Macêdo looked a contented man.
Thanks largely to the global boom in commodities, this soya-growing region has been transformed into the vanguard of Brazil's march on to the world stage. "This is going to be the new Brazil," Macêdo beamed, explaining how ballooning commodity prices had made his region, Mato Grosso state, into a powerhouse of the Brazilian economy.
Across the country, similar optimism can now be heard among businessmen and politicians, all convinced that South America's sleeping giant is finally waking up. Brazil has long been known as the país do futuro (country of the future). But a series of economic and political crises and 21 years of military rule somehow meant the future never quite arrived.
Now things seem to be changing. Brazil's currency recently hit a nine-year-high against the dollar, inflation is under control and millions of Brazilians are being propelled towards a new middle class. Last week, meanwhile, Brazil was awarded "investment grade" status by the financial rating agency Standard & Poor's, sending the country's stocks soaring to an all-time high.
Following the announcement, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said: "If we translate this into a language that the Brazilian people understand, it means that Brazil was declared a serious country, that has serious policies, that takes care of its finances with seriousness and because of this we deserve international confidence."
From oranges and iron ore to biofuels, Brazilian exports are booming, creating a new generation of tycoons. Brazil's millionaire club grew from 130,000 in 2006 to 190,000 last year - one of the fastest rates in the world, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group.
"We are the biggest exporters of meat, coffee, sugar, fruit juices and the second biggest of grains," Brazil's agriculture minister, Reinhold Stephanes, boasted at a conference in Brasília last month.
Meanwhile, Brazil's stockmarket, known as the Bovespa, was one of the best performing in the world last year.
Despite the world economic crisis, the Brazilian government recently raised the projected growth rate this year to 5% - lower than the other so-called BRIC nations of Russia, India and China but impressive for a developing country.
"The future has already arrived," said David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasília. "Foreign investments coming into Brazil are very strong; inflation is more or less under control; Brazil now has more international reserves than foreign debt, and the commodities are booming."
Not to mention the oil. A series of huge offshore discoveries by the state-owned energy company Petrobras has led many to dub the president "Sheikh Lula" and claim that Brazil may soon become a major oil producer.
In April, when Haroldo Lima, head of Brazil's national petroleum agency, made headlines after claiming that another huge oilfield had been found off Rio's coast, the news appeared to confirm what many Brazilians have long claimed: God is Brazilian.
Lia Valls, an economist at Rio's Getulio Vargas Foundation, said: "We are now living a singular economic situation we have never experienced before. The international situation is very favourable to Brazil."
In February, when the government announced that it had paid off its foreign debt, Lula boasted that Brazil had "taken an extremely important step towards transforming itself into a country taken seriously in the financial world".
"We will transform this country, definitively, into a great economy and a great nation," the president added.
Keen to transform itself from developing nation to world power, Brazil is also presiding over a 1,200-strong UN stabilisation force in conflict-ridden Haiti. Paulo Cordeiro, the country's former ambassador in Port-au-Prince, said the presence of Brazilian troops was a "demonstration of Brazil ... wanting more responsibility.
"I think Brazil has already reached a certain level of development in which the international community starts calling on it to act more," he said.
"Brazil's international leadership has grown a great deal over the last six or seven years," said the University of Brasília's Fleischer, citing Brazil's involvement in the UN mission and its leadership of the emerging nations in the Doha talks. "The tendency is for this influence to keep growing."
For analysts, much of the euphoria sweeping Brazil is down to the ability to control the inflation that plagued the country in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993 inflation reached 2,490%. Today the figure stands at about 4.7%.
"I think now it is difficult to imagine a return to this," said Valls.
Analysts are less certain, however, about the effects that a drop in commodity prices might have. Many believe this could bring a dramatic end to Brazil's boom. Others question whether the infrastructure and education systems are strong enough to maintain the economic momentum.
Valls warned: "All this does not mean you are guaranteed economic growth. Brazil still has serious structural problems; there needs to be lots of investment in infrastructure. There are some serious pitfalls that compromise this growth: education, having a qualified workforce, health."





Why make invest in Brazil.

  With the world markets in turmoil, shrewd investors are taking advantage of careful planning and intensive due diligence procedures by specialist companies in particular those involved in the emerging BRIC Economies.
Brazil has already emerged from the worst of the recession. 
Posting new stock market highs, decreasing unemployment and strong GDP figures which along with all time low lending rates and a pro-active government, Brazil is currently one of the strongest economic powers in the world. This summer Brazil lent $10 billion to the IMF, which is amazing, given that only a few years ago they were borrowing from the IMF.


Brazil also holds historically high USD deposits, an abundance of newly discovered oil and an export industry that is going from strength to strength.
By investing in Brazil, investors are able to profit from local economies as they grow in wealth and confidence. 
Governments of the BRIC economies are investing heavily in infrastructure, industry, education, health care, housing and in particular tourism, with the realization that they have the opportunity to attract FDI, increase GDP, substantiate growth of import and export trade at the same time as increasing local employment and wealth.
Brazil is not just a pretty face, but an up and coming super power where opportunity abounds.
Don't settle for second rate returns on your investment capital when you can achieve so much more in this stunning country of Brazil.
Find out more about Investing on this Blog and We also can assist in your Wealth Management.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

CPF

Business in Brazil.

Every Brazilian Citizen, have a C.P.F in Brazil as well if a foreigner wants to make business or live in Brazil also will need.
But what is a CPF?

CPF is:
A Registry of Physical Persons (C.P.F) is the record of a citizen in the Brazilian Internal Revenue Service in which all contributors must be (Brazilian or foreign individuals doing business in Brazil)
This is the document that identifies the individual taxpayer before the Internal Revenue Service of Brazil (RFB). The C.P.F stores the registration information of the person supplied by the taxpayer and the other data systems of the RFB ( Receita Federal do Brazil).

How to get your CPF?

The best and easy way is:
If you are a foreigner is:
Going until a Brazilian consulate, with this documents:
The Original passport and copy, home address with some document (bill) to proving the address informed, is very easy to make it in a consulate office.
The other way but nor so easy is:

Find someone to be your power-of-attorney (legal representative), to represent you at the (Receita Federal) here in Brazil, if you are not in person in Brazil, you will also need of a power-of-attorney document, translated for your mother language by a sworn translator, and depending of the language that you speak as mother language, it can be very hard to find.
I have to remember that in Brazil, is not easy find person who speak all kind of languages.
Normally is quite easy find speakers of: English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

The other documents you will need are:
A home address in Brazil, this address can be the same address of your power-of-attorney.
And sure you will need also, of a document (bill) to prove the address informed.
( This bill or document, must be rather, to do not have any problem, of the same period that you will make your C.P.F card number).
A certified photocopy of your passport, and power-of-attorney, accompanied by the original to show to the office person.
This document your power-of-attorney needs to take only to prove that the copy is authentic.
Your power-of-attorney may ask to do, this work some sum of money, and it can be much more that the right value you really need to pay.
The best way for sure is. do this process alone in a Brazilian Consulate at your City, or with some close friend that may you have here in Brazil.
Or with a good professionals, able to do it, for the right price.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Corporate capital



No minimum capital requirements are imposed, except in specific situations,
such as obtaining a permanent visa for a nonresident to manage a company
(US$ 200,000 or US$ 50,000, if the company commits to hire at least ten employees in the two years ensuing its incorporation), applying for import/export licenses or registrations, or the incorporation of a financial institution for which the SA form is mandatory.
The corporate capital of a Limitada, which must be denominated in Brazilian
currency, is divided into quotas with fixed or different unit values as specified in the articles of incorporation.

The Limitada may have its corporate capital increased any time after the
subscribed capital is fully paid by the quotaholders.
The reduction of the corporate capital of a Limitada, on the other hand, is only accepted when certain specific conditions are met (such as the offset of accumulated losses).

Administration

The administration or management of the Limitada must be performed by a
resident individual (quotaholder or not), who can be a foreigner with a
permanent visa and a work permit.

Acquisition.


Acquisition of real estate


Issues regarding real estate property situated in Brazil are governed primarily
by the Brazilian Civil Code (BCC).
Basically, foreign individuals and entities have the right to acquire real estate
property in Brazil according to the same conditions applied to national individuals
or entities. However, it is important to mention that the federal tax authorities
require that nonresident individuals or entities holding real estate located in
the national territory apply for the individual or corporate taxpayer registration
number (CPF or CNPJ).
Furthermore, Brazilian regulation provides for special restrictions in case foreigners
are interested in purchasing properties located near the coast, at the border or
at specific locations considered as conflicting with national security.
Law 5,709/71 establishes that foreign individuals who have permanent
residence in Brazil, foreign companies authorized to operate here and Brazilian
companies controlled by foreigners are authorized to acquire rural properties,
under certain conditions and limits.

On the other hand, foreign entities not authorized to operate in Brazil and
foreign individuals who do not have permanent residence in Brazilian territory
may only acquire rural property under certain circumstances including:
a) foreign individuals are free to acquire rural property from inheritance rights;
b) foreigners are limited to acquire land equivalent to 50 rural modules maximum;
however, acquisitions ranging from 3 rural modules to 50 rural modules are subject
to prior approval from INCRA (Brazilian Agency in charge of rural property issues);
c) the acquisition of more than one property larger than 3 rural modules
is subject to specific approval from INCRA. In addition, when a sole
property is larger than 20 rural modules, its acquisition is contingent
upon the approval of a planning for exploration of the land.
Taking into account that the ownership of large areas of Brazilian land have
been in dispute since colonial land grants were made, it is very important
to ascertain that the seller has valid title of the area. This verification can be
made at the real estate registry. If the seller has been in possession of the
land for many years, and in the absence of ongoing lawsuits, purchase of the
land is reasonably safe. In all cases, buyers should seek legal advice.
Upon the purchase of freehold property, buyers should follow the steps to
register the change of title at the real estate registry.
It is also recommended that long and short leaseholds be registered at the
real estate registry in order to minimize potential disputes with the landlord.

Business talking II


Establishing a Business in Brazil


Benefits of locating in Brazil


Brazil presents a prime opportunity for potential investors:
• The current population of approximately 184 million (according to
data published by IBGE in 2007), of which almost half is under 20
years of age, is projected to reach more than 259 million by the
year 2050.
• The spread of modern agricultural methods is bringing an increasing proportion
of the population into the market for manufactured goods.
• The Brazilian public is highly receptive to foreign brand names, which can
demand a premium price over competing domestic products.
• Has a democratic government.
• Has a stable economy and has been successful in controlling inflation.
• Has modern telecommunications and bank systems.
• Is one of the ten world’s largest economies.
• Has the most diversified industrial park in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
• Is one of the world’s top generators of electric energy.
As far as the actual establishment of an operation in Brazil is concerned,
potential foreign investors will have no difficulty in obtaining skilled
professional assistance for the preliminary stages. They will also find that,
due to the large industrial base, few problems are encountered in locating
a joint venture partner or a suitable manufacturing facility. Investors may seek
assistance in the following areas:
• To determine whether a market exists for a particular product, there are
several competent consulting firms with wide experience in market
Investment in Brazil 15
Investment in Brazil
research. Several of these consulting firms are associated with major
multinational consulting companies.
• Similarly, plant location studies and industrial design services may be undertaken,
and there is an adequate supply of competent engineering expertise.
• Assistance is available for locating possible joint venture and equity
participation partners.
• Labor in Brazil is plentiful and there is a good supply of skilled and
disciplined production workers in the main industrial centers.
• Skilled local management is readily available and at a cost well below that
of the expatriate executive.
• Raw materials and energy supply are easily obtainable.
• The marketing and promotion industry is well developed and media
advertising is used extensively.
The potential foreign investor is, of course, interested in the long term
prospects. In this respect, the most important feature of Brazil is that it is a
truly developing country. A few of the factors that should ensure an
expanding market for manufactured goods and for services include:
• Population growth and demographic factors, as previously described.
• A flourishing, export-oriented agricultural base, with a huge potential for
expansion of land under cultivation and the improvement of crop yields by
the increased use of irrigation and fertilizers.
• The existence of vast, untapped mineral wealth and massive investment
projects currently in progress to exploit those resources.
• The development of energy source alternatives to imported oil, including
harnessing hydroelectric power and expanding the use of ethanol
and natural gas.
• The growth of an urban working class with expanded disposable income.
Overall, the best advice for potential investors in Brazil is to look at the past
experience and future plans of foreign companies already operating here.
From the smaller foreign company that has found a niche for its particular
product line or technological expertise to the major multinational corporation
whose Brazilian operation is among the largest of its international
subsidiaries, the general message is clear: Brazil is an option that is hard
to overlook for the long term investor.

Business talking.



Private-public partnerships (Parcerias Público-Privadas)


The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has become an important administrative
instrument for providing high quality public services for the population in a
number of countries. Most countries have decided to adopt PPP due to the
lack of budgetary resources needed to meet the growing demand from the
population for more public services. Accordingly, it has been observed that,
in addition to the advantage of enabling the services to be made available
sooner, there have also been advantages such as the gains in design,
construction, operation and management efficiency that these types of
contracts provide for the public administration.
The main, and longest, experience with PPP is in Great Britain, where the
first PPPs were contracted in 1992. Today, there are more than 900 PPPs contracted,
with a total value over £60 billion. A number of countries have followed
this example and are adopting PPPs. Following this trend, Law 11,079/04
(Federal PPP Law) was enacted in Brazil. In addition, various Brazilian
states (such as Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Goiás, Rio Grande
do Sul, Bahia, Ceará, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Distrito Federal and Rio de
Janeiro) have also issued their own state level PPP laws, which are very
similar to the Federal PPP Law.
In general terms, PPPs are a sponsored or administrative type of
concession agreement. A sponsored concession consists of the
concession of public services that involve, in addition to the tariff charged
from the end users, a subsidy from the public partner to the private
partner. An administrative concession consists of a contract for providing
services where the public partner is the direct or indirect user of the
public service.
The main characteristics and innovations of the Federal PPP Law are:
• Contracts are effective for more than five years and less than thirty
five years.
• Prohibition of contracts for values lower than R$ 20 million and whose sole
objective is the supply of labor, the supply and installation of equipment or
the execution of the public works – i.e. the contract must necessarily include
operating the service.
• Sharing of risks between the public and private partners.
• Establishment of objective criteria for assessing the performance of the
private partner and payment according to results.
• Mechanisms and guarantees for the financers to reduce the financing risks.

Possibility of using arbitration to resolve conflicts.
• Provision of guarantees for the payment of a consideration by the public
administrator.
• Provision of contracting the PPP through a competitive bidding process.
The Federal PPP Law has introduced several innovations to Brazilian
administrative contracts, which may substantially improve the quality of the
public administration projects in the eyes of the investors and the private
financiers. This allows the application of internationally accepted PPP
principles, which assures better quality in the public services for the users in a
continuous, long term manner.
Since the Federal PPP Law was enacted on December 30, 2004, several PPP
projects have been contracted in Brazil. By 2007, six PPP contracts, with total
investment adding up to more than US$ 1.2 billion, had been signed in the
road and water sectors:
• São Paulo State Metro Line 4 PPP (2006)
• Bahia State Sewage Treatment PPP (2006)
• Pernambuco State Paiva Urban Acess PPP (2006)
• Minas Gerais State MG-050 Highway PPP (2007)
• Rio Claro Municipality Sewage Treatment PPP (2007)
• Rio das Ostras Municipality Sewage Treatment PPP (2007)
Several other PPPs are being structured in the road, water, rail, airport, prison,
sport and leisure, public buildings and education sectors of Brazil and should
be tendered and finalized in the near future.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Innovation

Support to innovation is the strategic priority for BNDES. The goal is to contribute for the upswing of innovation activities in Brazil and the performance of such activities on a regular basis.

To achieve that, BNDES provides support to all economic sectors seeking to meet the needs of those wishing to innovate, combining several financial instruments.


Innovative Capital Facility – Focus on the Company

Purpose: Support companies to develop capabilities to undertake innovative activities on a regular basis. This includes investments in tangible capitals, including physical infrastructure, and intangible capitals (*). Such Investments must be consistent with the companies’ business strategies and be presented as per the Innovation Investment Plan model (PII).

(*) Intangible asset, identifiable without physical substance and used to supply goods and services, provided that: It is controlled by the company and from which future economic benefits are expected for the company – as set forth in the International Accounting Standard 38, 1998.

Operation types: Long-term financing and/or subscription of securities.




Technology Innovation – Focus on Project

Purpose: support technology projects aiming at the development of new or significantly improved products and/or processes (at least for the domestic market) involving technology risk and market opportunities.

Operation types: Long-term financing and/or subscription of securities.




Production Innovation Facility

Purpose: support investments in implementation, expansion and modernization of production capacity required to absorb the deliverables of research and development or innovation processes or to support research and development or innovation with proven market opportunities, including the development of incremental innovations for products and/or processes.




FUNTEC Technology Fund

Purpose: support research, development and innovation projects in nationally relevant areas, allowing taking strategic opportunities for Brazil, enabling it to take leading positions. BNDES defined the following strategic areas:

• Health (specifically concerning active pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines for neglected diseases; pharmaceutical products developed via state-of-art biotechnology; and support provision to an innovative health care infrastructure, comprising breeders of research animals, pre-clinic and clinic research);
• Renewable energies;
• Environment (control cars and plants emissions);
• Electronics;
• New metal materials and advanced ceramics; and
• Chemistry.

Beneficiaries: Technology Institutes and Supporting Institutions.

Operation types: Non-reimbursable funds.

BNDS

Trade, Services and Tourism

Like all economic activities in the country, the area of trade and services has been undergoing an intense process of modernization, seeking to create jobs and offer quality goods at competitive prices. Aware of this reality, the BNDES has lines of adequate financial support to companies of all sizes working in the area of trade and services. The goal is to promote, organize and monitor the development of projects related to the industry, always seeking to increase productivity and efficiency of the enterprises.

The Bank also offers special funding for projects designed to modernize the infrastructure projects in the areas of education, health, welfare and tourism. Another focus of work of the BNDES is the development of institutional actions aimed at the establishment of partnerships between other public and private.
Support Mechanisms
BNDES holds long-term financing, securities underwriting and providing security, acting through products and funds, according to the mode and character of the operation. The three support mechanisms (finance, securities and guarantees) can be combined for a single financial transaction, at the discretion of BNDES.

Programs are also offered financing that can bind to more than one product and aim to meet the specific demands, with term of endowment and established beforehand.

Meet below the main mechanisms for Bank support to agriculture.
Products

Some products fall into the BNDES financing lines, with specific goals and financial conditions. At the discretion of the Bank, an investment project can benefit from a combination of Credit Lines of the same or different products, according to the segment, the purpose of the project and the items to be supported.

See the Products that can be used in support of Agriculture:

* Finem BNDES
Funding, worth more than $ 10 million, the projects implementation, expansion and modernization of enterprises. The performance of BNDES, under finem, to support investments in the sectors of trade and services is through the following funding lines:
Tourism
Support for investment projects aimed at expanding the national tourist complex.
Trade and other service segments
Support for investment projects for implementation, modernization and expansion of commercial enterprises and service.
the services of education, health, welfare and safety
Support for investment projects for expansion, deployment, recovery, expansion, modernization and revitalization of the clinics, to private companies
the Energy Efficiency Projects
Support for energy efficiency projects that contribute to energy savings, increase overall efficiency of the energy system or to encourage the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable sources.
Acquisition of capital assets
Support the acquisition of capital assets associated with investment plans submitted to BNDES.
Leasing of capital goods
Support the acquisition of machinery and equipment for leasing operations, coupled with investment plans submitted to BNDES.
Imports of capital goods
Support for import of machinery and equipment without national similar, associated investment plans submitted to BNDES
Micro, small and medium enterprises
Support the investment plans submitted to BNDES by micro, small and medium enterprises.
the working capital associated
Support for the portion of working capital associated with investment projects presented by BNDES

* Automatic BNDES
Funding of up to $ 10 million, the projects implementation, expansion and modernization of enterprises.
* BNDES Finame
Finances the acquisition of isolated new machinery and equipment of domestic manufacture, accredited by BNDES, no maximum value.
* BNDES Finame Leasing
Finance purchases of machinery and equipment isolated on new leases.
* BNDES Card
Revolving credit, pre-approved up to $ 1 million to purchase products, supplies and services accredited by the Operations Portal BNDES Card, directed to micro, small and medium enterprises.
* BNDES Credit Limit
Revolving credit facility to support companies or economic groups already BNDES clients with low credit risk.
* BNDES Bridge Loan
Funding to a project, granted in specific cases, to expedite the realization of investments through the granting of resources during the structuring of long-term operation.
* Project finance BNDES
Financial Engineering contractually supported by cash flow from a project, serving as collateral assets and receivables of the same enterprise.
* BNDES Bonds and Guarantees
Provision of credit and guarantees BNDES aiming to reduce the level of participation in projects financed.

BNDES.




Commerce, Services and Tourism


Akin to other economic activities in Brazil, the business of commerce and services is undergoing a modernizing process that aims to provide high-quality goods at low costs. However, there is no concentration of the branches in these sectors that most create jobs, besides being mainly comprised of small and medium-sized companies.

Aware of such a scenario, the BNDES provides financial support lines properly designed for every company that operates in the Brazilian commerce and services sector. The purpose is to encourage, support and monitor the development of projects related to these sectors, constantly focusing on increasing production and efficiency within Brazilian companies.

The BNDES also offers special loans to projects aimed at revitalizing the infrastructure of projects in education, health, social assistance and tourism. The BNDES also supports the development of corporate efforts focused on establishing partnerships between public and private entities.


Publishing

The BNDES seeks to foster the development of the book market in Brazil by offering special conditions to the literary works segment.

Support may be provided for investments in the purchase of copyrights (except for foreign authors), translation to and from Portuguese, technical proofreading, preparation of pre-industrial drafts and final proofreading of books and their special versions in other media (books in Braille, audio books, CD-ROM etc), involving the production and sale of books in the domestic and international markets, through the credit lines FINEM and BNDES Automatic.

The BNDES also intends to finance the book production business for the purchase of new machinery and equipment produced in Brazil, under the credit line FINAME, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises may also use the BNDES Card to purchase goods and printing paper, staple products in the publishing industry.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ceará- Pecém.

Oil company Petrobras opens biodiesel factory in northeast of country.



Brazilian oil company Petrobras Tuesday opened a biodiesel factory in the northeast of Brazil, following an investment of 100 million reais, (USD USD

In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar.

Notes:
The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 64mn) officials said.

The unit, located in Candeias, in the state of Bahia, is part of a project of the state biodiesel production Biodiesel production is the process of synthesizing biodiesel. Biodiesel is a liquid fuel source largely compatible with petroleum based diesel fuel. The most common method for its manufacture is synthesis by reacting a glyceride-containing plant oil with a short chain alcohol such
..... Click the link for more information. company, which includes overall investment of 2.375 billion reais by 2012.

The new factory is able to operate using raw materials of vegetable (sunflower, soy and cotton), animal (beef, pig or chicken render) origin or waste oil and fats used for frying food.

After attending the opening, Brazil s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, instated the board of recently created renewable energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. company, Petrobras Biocombustivel.

The new subsidiary will be responsible for managing the Candeias unit and two other biodiesel factories to be built in the states of Minas Gerais Minas Gerais (mē`nəs zhərīs`) [Port.,=various mines], state (1996 pop. 16,660,691), 226,707 sq mi (587,171 sq km), E Brazil. The capital is Belo Horizonte. Minas Gerais continues to produce more than half of Brazil's mineral wealth. and Ceara.

The total capacity of the three production units will be 170 million litres of biodiesel per year, in an investment of 300 million reais,(USD64mn) the subsidiary s chairman, Alan Kardec noted.

Solar Energy.

Itapipoca, District of Marinheiro, BRAZIL

SELF joined forces in 1996 with the Institute for Sustainable Development and Renewable Energy (IDER) to carry out a Solar Home System (SHS) pilot project in the State of Ceará, located in northeast Brazil. IDER is a non-profit NGO based in Fortaleza, Brazil that promotes renewable energy. The project focused on five main objectives:

1) delivering solar energy to a rural area
2) stimulating the creation of renewable energy cooperatives through revolving funds or other systems of credit that would facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of SHS
3) encouraging additional projects with the productive use of energy that will increase the income of rural families
4) engaging local communities by offering technical and managerial training and
5) respecting cultural and environmental integrity.

SELF and IDER selected the small coastal settlement of Macei to launch a pilot project. Working with the Community Association of Macei (ASCIMA), a cooperative that serves 520 families living in eleven small communities in the settlement of Macei (located in the municipality of Itapipoca, District of Marinheiro), SELF and IDER initially electrified fifty homes. Macei presented itself as a "model" community for a SHS project due to the proven commitment of its people in retaining their property rights after a Brazilian company purchased their lands. This struggle served to increase the population's sense of long-term ownership of their individual property as well as a sense of commitment towards community improvement.

The main source of income for the local population is derived from agriculture, cattle breeding, and fishing as well as production of local crafts. The region produces three main crops: beans, cassava, and coconut. SELF and IDER fostered technical sustainability of this project by providing key locals with in-depth training in the basics of photovoltaic theory as well in SHS design, installation, and maintenance. Training courses were carried out just prior to and during the installation period of the project's first fifty solar home systems.

Each SHS consisted of a single "Unikit-3," manufactured by United Solar Systems in Troy, Michigan. Each Unikit has a rated power output of 44Wp, plus a sealed, deep-cycle battery with a capacity of 80 Ü 100 amp-hours. Accessories for the kits included fuses, screws, and cables. Spare parts including 22Wp modules, batteries, charge controllers, lamp fixtures, 7W and 9W compact florescent bulbs, and two wiring and mounting sets were included for future needs.

Utilizing a revolving credit fund owned and managed by ASCIMA, the end-users purchased their $480 solar home systems by making a 10% down payment of $48.00 followed by monthly installments of $12.60 for a period of four years. Participants in this project were given the option of reducing their monthly installments to $11.90 by making an initial down payment of $72.00, or $11.20 monthly payments with a 20% down payment of $96.00. All funds earned are used to finance additional solar home systems for the community as well as to provide local management of the project.

The pilot project proved successful. Almost two years after the project implementation, IDER verified its local acceptance by the community by following up on the continued satisfaction of the end-users with their SHS and the low default rate of monthly payments. An additional thirty-eight families have requested SHS and have agreed to the revolving credit terms. The SHS owners noted that they desired to continue improving on the quality and size of their SHS, and many end-users noted health benefits as a major motivation to promote SHS to others. They reported improvements in various areas of health, such as asthma, bronchitis, fatigue, etc. due to the elimination of diesel and kerosene fumes previously used to fuel oil lamps. "after the installation of that energy system never again I had fatigue. I had horrible crises of lack of air, that only passed when I went to the hospital"

SELF believes that this project clearly demonstrates that rural families without access to grid electricity in Brazil can afford and are willing to pay for their own Solar Home Systems, provided that short-term financing and consumer credit are made available to them. Under the direction of IDER, the end-users are completely comfortable with the use of and care for their new SHS and now enjoy the freedom that solar powered lighting brings to their lives. There are an additional 35 million people in Brazil living without electricity. Given additional financial resources, SELF is anxious to bring photovoltaic technology to every village!

Day 2: The Most Popular Deal at the Real Estate Forum is…

June 15, 2010
Toronto, Canada


From IL's International Real Estate Investment Forum

Dear IL Reader,

We’ve just wrapped up the final day of the International Real Estate Investment Forum in Toronto. But before I dash off to the final cocktail party to toast to good fortunes with the 149 readers and 70+ speakers and exhibitors who have joined us here, I’d like to fill you in on the deals that were made during today’s session—deals you can take part in, too.

I’m Suzan Haskins, and I’m your on-the-scene reporter from this sold-out Forum. I honestly can’t pick today’s most rousing speaker or potentially profitable opportunity…there were too many. This afternoon, there were three half-hour sessions, each with three workshops going on simultaneously. Makes my job downright impossible. There is no way I can cover it all….

But one opportunity stood out among all the others.

I can't give away everything in this report…but I can tell you that Brazil is getting a lot of interest. A consortium from Northeast Brazil brought a raging deal to this Forum. And they had a steady stream of interest at their table…all day every day.

It is no accident, Brazil are booming even more, and this make that investors from all over the world run after, of all opportunities there.

Sunday, June 13, 2010


Brazil.

US investment firms are setting their sights on the Brazilian real estate market, lured by economic fundamentals.

- From the middle-class residential market to the A-class office space segment, the real estate sector is going through a period of intense business activity that has not been seen for a long time. The lasting decline in domestic interest rates coupled with low inflation and high liquidity in the international capital markets have led investors to take a closer look at the giant Latin American market.

Those who had injected a large amount of cash in Mexico in the beginning of the decade are now keen on seeing Brazil as their next big move.

“It’s really like a tsunami coming,” says Paul Weeks, head of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield in São Paulo. “For years and years, we have been waiting for foreign investors. In the past six months, they have been coming like in a tidal wave. There is so much money coming in this country.”

SAM ZELL BUYS

Take Sam Zell. The U.S. billionaire has recently gone on the shopping spree after selling Equity International at home. In a few bold moves, he has already won back its initial bid, such as in the transaction with Gafisa, a high-profile building company in São Paulo. Only months after he bought a 32 percent stake for $55 million, he reduced it to 27.7 percent and got his money back. He then acquired a 14 percent stake in Ecisa, the owner of seven shopping malls in the country, which he later increased to 55 percent in partnership with GP Investimentos, a local private equity fund. Last June, he launched his most ambitious move with Bracor, a joint venture with a local investor, Carlos Betancourt. Bracor initially planned to invest $200 million in industrial and commercial buildings, but it already intends to spend another $120 million within two years.

Investors who have had a taste of the Latin American potential in Mexico are now increasingly turning their attention to Brazil, as the economic fundamentals look sound enough.

”Sam Zell is a bit like Bill Gates,” Week says. “When he goes into the market, people usually follow him like sheep.”Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch are all ready to step in, he says.

MORGAN STANLEY FUND

And Morgan Stanley Real Estate has just launched a $200 million fund focusing mainly on the residential segment. Foreign investors were also responsible for 75 percent of the funds that were raised as part of last year’s eight IPOs in the sector, including Gafisa, GP Investimentos, and São Carlos Empreendimentos e Participações.

Significantly, GP announced the launch of a new company, BR Properties, on January 2nd, in partnership with Banco Safra and foreign investors (Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, Sandell Asset Management, Tudor Group, Talisman Fund and The Peter Malkin Family and Belfer Management). The company, which is to focus on commercial office space, has an initial capital of $25 million that is due to be increased to $100 million at an unspecified date.

Meanwhile, São Carlos has already been responsible for one of the largest transactions in the commercial market. The company, which was launched by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles – the owners of the popular retailer Lojas Americanas – acquired almost half of the Eldorado Business Tower, a 32-story state-of-the-art building being built in São Paulo.

Foreign investors will increasingly seek to control entire buildings, according to market analysts. With a 14 percent vacancy rate in São Paulo, the main office market in the country has now recovered from the crisis of the past five years (in 2005, the vacancy rate hit 20 percent) and is now ready for take-off. Prices of A-class office space are still only at the level they were in 2000, but they should keep on increasing as the vacancy rate is expected to fall again this year.

Source: Latin Business Chronicle




Acquário Ceará.


The Acquário Ceará is a facility which presents – in an innovative, interactive and engaging way – the very positive aspects of sea and planet’s biosphere preservation through the mankind’s relationship with water environments.

This Ocean Center will be a permanent and renewable edutainment showcase of Environmental Edutainment composed of a world class aquarium integrated to a newest generation museum.

The building has 226.000 sq feet of constructed area and 3.962.580 water gallons in its exhibition tanks. The Acquário Ceará will be rated as planet’s south hemisphere largest aquarium, biggest of Latin America and third of the world.

In its development are involved 25 worldwide teams.

The IMAGIC! is leading this very experienced team aiming the realization of this exceptional enterprise which helps consolidating knowledge about oceans preservation and world’s sustainability.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Understanding a little more.


Ceará
(Portuguese pronunciation: [siaˈɾa])

Is one of the 27 states of Brazil located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is one of the main rourist destinations of Brazil.
Literally, the name Ceará means "sings the jandaia". According to José de Alencar, one of the most important writers of Brazil and an authority in native languages, Ceará is composed of cemo -- to sing aloud, to claim -- , and ara -- little parakeet in a native language. There are also theories that the state name would derive from Siriará, a reference to the crabs from the seashore.
The state has dunes at Cumbuco and Jericoacoara, to the Dune Buggy and Jeep rides in Canoa Quebrada, and handcraft industries in embroidery, hammocks, and pottery. The state is best known for its extensive coastline, with 573 kilometers (356 miles) of sand. There are also mountains and valleys producing tropical fruits in the chapadas of Araripe and Apodi. To the south, on the border of Paraíba, Pernambuco and Piauí, is the National Forest of Araripe.
Geography
Ceará has an area of 148,016 km². It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, on the south by Pernambuco state, and on the west by Piauí.
Ceará lies partly upon the northeast slope of the Brazilian Highlands and partly upon the sandy coastal plain. Its surface is a succession of great terraces, facing north and northeast, formed by the denudation of the ancient sandstone plateau which once covered this part of the continent; the terraces are seamed by watercourses, and their valleys are broken by hills and ranges of highlands. The latter are the remains of the ancient plateau, capped with horizontal strata of sandstone, and having a remarkably uniform altitude of 2000 to 2,400 ft (730 m) The flat top of such a range is called a chapada or taboleira, and its width in places is from 32 to 56 miles (90 km). The boundary line with Piauí follows one of these ranges, the Serra de Ibiapaba, which unites with another range on the southern boundary of the state, known as the Serra do Araripe.
Another range, or escarpment, crosses the state from east to west, but is broken into two principal divisions, each having several local names. These ranges are not continuous, the breaking down of the ancient plateau having been irregular and uneven.
The rivers of the state are small and, with one or two exceptions, become completely dry in the dry season. The largest is the Jaguaribe, which flows entirely across the state in a northeast direction.
Ceará has a varied environment, with mangroves, caatinga, jungle, scrubland and tropical forest.
The higher ranges intercept considerable moisture from the prevailing trade winds, and their flanks and valleys are covered with a tropical forest which is typical of the region, gathering species from tropical forests, caatinga and cerrado.
The less elevated areas of the plateaus are either thinly wooded or open campo. Most of the region at the lower altitudes is characterized by scrubby forests called caatingas, which is an, endemic Brazilian vegetation. The sandy, coastal plain, with a width of 12 to 18 miles (29 km), is nearly bare of vegetation, although the coast has many enclaves of restingas forests and mangroves.
The soil is, in general, thin and porous and does not retain moisture, consequently the long, dry season turns the country into a barren desert, relieved only by vegetation along the riverways and mountain ranges, and by the hardy, widely distributed Carnauba Palm (Copernicia cerifera), which in places forms groves of considerable extent. Some areas in the higher ranges of Serra da Ibiapaba, Serra do Araripe and others are more appropriate to agriculture as its soil and vegetation are less affected by the dry seasons.
The endless stretch of beaches in the state is a major tourist attraction. Ceará has several famous beaches such as Canoa Quebrada, Jericoacoara, Morro Branco, Taíba, Cumbuco, Portdo da Dunas, Iguape, Prainha, Praia do Futuro and Flexeiras. The beaches are divided into two groups (in relation to the capital Fortaleza): Sunset Coast (Costa do Sol poente) and Sunrise Coast (Costa do Sol nascente).
Climate
The climate is hot and humid on the coast, tempered by the cool trade winds; but in the more elevated, semi-arid regions it is very hot and dry (often above 35 °C, but seldom above 40 °C), although the nights are cool. However, in the higher ranges (Serra da Ibiapaba, Serra do Araripe and several less larger highlands) the temperatures are colder and vary from about 14 °C to 34 °C (the minimum temperature registered in Ceará took place in Jardim, a small city in Serra do Araripe: 8 °C).
The year is divided into a rainy and dry season, the rains beginning in January to March and lasting until June. The dry season, July to December is sometimes broken by slight showers in September and October, but these are of very slight importance. This environment and temperature attracts many tourist, especially ecotourists.
The climate is hot almost all year round. The temperature in the state varies from 22 °C to 36 °C with the lowest temperatures not being typical in the capital Fortaleza but in the numerous mountains in the state.

History
The territory of Ceará includes three of the capitanias originally granted by the Portuguese crown in 1534. The first attempts to settle the territory failed, and the earliest Portuguese settlement was made near the mouth of the Camocim River in 1604. Ceará was first successfully colonised by the Portuguese soldier Martim Soares Moreno in 1612, when what is today Brazil was hotly contested by the Dutch and the Portuguese.
The area was invaded twice by the Dutch, in 1644 and in 1654. Both times the settlers were ultimately repelled. Before being defeated, however, the Dutch founded what is today Fortaleza where they constructed Fort Schoonenburg, so named after one of their commanders. In 1661, the Netherlands formally ceded their Brazilian territories to the Portuguese crown, ending conflict in the region. Ceará became a dependency of Pernambuco in 1680; this relationship lasted until 1799, when the Captaincy of Ceará was made independent.
The fight for Brazilian independence in 1822 was fierce in Ceará, with the area being a rebel stronghold that incurred vicious retribution from loyalists. The captaincy became a province in 1822 under Dom Pedro I. A revolution followed in 1824, the president of the province was deposed fifteen days after his arrival, and a republic was proclaimed. Internal dissensions immediately broke out, the new president was assassinated, and after a brief reign of terror the province resumed its allegiance to the empire. Ceará was one of the first provinces of Brazil to abolish slavery.
The reign of Dom Pedro II (see Empire of Brazil) saw great advances in infrastructure in Ceará, with the commerce increasing by a large amount, and with gas lighting becoming almost ubiquitous.
The state of Ceará became a bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church in 1853, the bishop residing at Fortaleza.
Two railway lines running inland from the coast (the Baturité line from Fortaleza to Senador Pompeu, 179 miles (288 km), and the Sobral line from the port of Camocim to Ipu, 134 miles) by the national government after the drought of 1877–1878 to give work to the starving refugees, and were later operated under leases. Dams were also begun for irrigation purposes.
The population numbered 805,687 in 1890, and 849,127 in 1900. In 1900 approximately five-sixths of the population lived on estates, owned no property, paid no taxes, and derived few benefits from the social and political institutions about them. Education was then confined almost exclusively to the upper classes, from which came some of the most prominent men in Brazilian politics and literature.
In the early 20th century the sandy zone along the coast was nearly barren, but the more elevated region behind the coast with broken surfaces and sandy soil produced fruit and most tropical products when conditions are favorable. The natural vegetable production was important, and included manigoba or Ceara rubber, carnaúba wax and fiber, caju wine and ipecacuanha. The principal agricultural products were cotton, coffee, sugar, mandioca and tropical fruits. The production of cotton increased largely with the development of cotton manufactures in Brazil.
The higher plateau was devoted almost exclusively to cattle raising, once the principal industry of the state, although recurring droughts created an obstacle to its profitable development. The state exported considerable amounts of cattle, hides and skins.
Since 1960, the Orós Dam, comparable in size to the Aswan Dam has supplied Ceará with much of its water, and in 1995 construction began on the enormous Castanhão Dam, which, when completed, will be able to hold 6.5 km³ of water.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Commerce


Wal-Mart unveils e-commerce site in booming Brazil


SAO PAULO (Reuters)
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc branched out into electronic commerce in Brazil on Thursday, unveiling a website it hopes will extend its reach across the vast country, where consumer demand is booming.
Technology
The foray into e-commerce is part of an aggressive expansion strategy in Latin America's largest country, where the U.S. retail giant is spending millions of dollars and racking up sales growth at more than twice the pace than in the United States.
"Brazil is a strategic market for Wal-Mart, and being in e-commerce is a key part of our growth strategy here," Hector Nunez, Wal-Mart's chief executive in Brazil, said at a news conference at the retailer's headquarters on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
Wal-Mart, which opened its first store in Brazil in Sao Paulo in 1995, now has 322 outlets in 17 of the country's 26 states. It is also looking to expand into the vast central states where it is absent.
The discount behemoth expects to open 24 more stores in Brazil by the end of 2008, part of 1.2 billion reais ($544.7 million) in investments earmarked for the year. In 2009, it plans to spend up to 1.8 billion reais ($984 million) to open 80 to 90 more outlets.
Wal-Mart spent 25 million reais ($13.67 million) to develop its Brazilian e-commerce site, www.walmart.com.br. Nunez said the site will offer the lowest prices among online retailers in Brazil, where electronic commerce has been growing more than 30 percent annually in recent years.
Asked if the prospect of an economic slowdown in Brazil posed a threat to Wal-Mart's expansion plans, Nunez said the company was confident its low-price model would continue to attract consumers, even in the event of a downturn.
"We are going to continue with our expansion plans and we are going to continue investing in this country," he said. "Consumption is still rising, and so are our sales."
(Reporting by Todd Benson)

Monday, June 7, 2010

10 Good Reasons!


10 Good Reasons To Invest In Brazil
1. A growing economy - Brazil is one of the four largest developing economies in the world and according to Goldman Sachs, by 2050 Brazil will be the world’s 5th biggest economy;

2. A young and growing population - Brazil has an expanding workforce and developing middle class, which will boost earning and spending power in Brazil, and this in turn will drive domestic growth;

3. Plentiful supply of fertile land and huge amount of fresh water - these factors have combined to make Brazil the world’s largest supplier of a huge range of soft commodities from sugar and coffee to beef and chicken. Over the last decade Brazil’s agribusiness has increased 47%;
4. Huge reserves of hard commodities - Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and also has good deposits of uranium, nickel, gold and platinum. Better still, it appears to have a significant amount of oil. If the deposits are as big as they seem, Brazil could end up in the same oil-exporting league as the Gulf countries and Venezuela;

5. Largest exporter of ethanol - Brazil supplied 42% of the world’s ethanol that was used for fuel in 2006. Brazil’s ethanol is derived from the country’s vast sugar can supply and, in addition, ethanol from sugar cane produces 8.2x the amount of energy it takes to make (corn produces 1.5x). Internally, Brazil’s ethanol demand has surged due to government mandates that require ethanol to be used as fuel for its cars. In 2007, 71% of cars manufactured in Brazil used ethanol in either an all ethanol or flex fuel (blend of ethanol and gasoline) design;

6. Huge Federal Government Investment programs in infrastructure - although insufficient infrastructures are still a constraint on Brazil’s economic growth, the Federal Government is planning several infrastrutural investments which are set to both improve the actual situation and provide investment opportunities for private companies.

7. Underdeveloped real estate market - due to continuous years of recession and lack of purchase power during the 80’s and 90’s, Brazil’s property market is still in his early phase. Farmland and oceanfront property costs pennies on the dollar compared to those in developed countries. Brazil’s almost 200 million citizens are also driving demand in real estate, and it’s getting easier for them to buy houses thanks to new government measures to make mortgages more accessible to all Brazilians.

8. Value for money - construction costs in Brazil are half the cost of building in the United States and Europe, suggesting that investors can afford a higher standard of living when in Brazil. Also, low cost of living and low labour costs guarantee cheaper production costs in Brazil than in developed countries;

9. Inflation under control and interest rates dropping - The Brazilian central bank has been recognized as doing a great job in keeping inflation at check (something unthinkable for Brazil, just a few years ago). Moreover, it has been done with dropping interest rates. The steadily fiscal reforms and economic stability should allow Brazilian interest rates to drop even more significantly;

10. Natural beauty and friendly population - Brazil is internationally known for its natural beauty, beaches, nice weather, carnival, music and culture. Brazil’s white sand beaches are pristine enough to convince even the most conservative property investor of the coastline’s value and man-untouched landscapes are still plentiful. Moreover, tourist arriving in the country soon become enchanted with the mixture of colors, races and cultures of the people as well as the way they are received by the friendly and happy population.