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Latin America: Companies of the Year
Ecopetrol,
Fibra UNO and SAP are Latin America’s companies of the year.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
The
editorial staff of Latinvex selects the companies that stood out during 2013.
ENERGY: ECOPETROL
As
Mexican state oil giant Pemex is about to lose its 75-year monopoly on the
sector, it could learn a thing or two from Colombia’s state oil company
Ecopetrol.
The
company, Colombia’s largest, is also involved in exploration and production
activities in Brazil , Peru and the United States Gulf Coast, and owns the main
refineries in Colombia , most of the network of oil and multiple purpose
pipelines in the country, petrochemical plants, and is entering into the
biofuels business.
The
Colombian company is widely seen as the most efficient of the national oil
companies in Latin America, surpassing Brazil’s Petrobras, which has been
suffering from falling production and rising debt problems. In the third
quarter alone, Ecopetrol boosted profits by 22 percent. It also tripled
local crude oil sales.
And
in December, it made two announcements of key oil discoveries. The first in the
Cano Sur Este block, which it owns in full, with proven reserves of 22.4
million barrels. The second in the Akacias field in southeastern Colombia,
which it owns 55 percent and an estimated 1.3 billion barrels of oil.
Canada-based Talisman Energy owns the other 45 percent.
On
December 12, Fitch Ratings upgraded its foreign and local currency ratings of
Ecopetrol S.A. from BBB- and BBB to BBB and BBB+, respectively. Furthermore,
both rating outlooks were revised to stable.
Next
year, Ecopetrol plans to invest $10.6 billion in 2014, two thirds of which will
be spent on exploration and production.
TECHNOLOGY: SAP, GERMANY
Germany-based
SAP, the world’s largest business management software company, can boast 15
consecutive quarters of double-digit sales growth in Latin America, including
the first three quarters this year. In the third quarter alone, software sales
grew by 600 percent in Colombia and 500 percent in Venezuela.
And
it is one of the companies that expects to benefit from the Mexican energy
reforms thanks to having both state oil giant Pemex and private chemical giant
Mexichem among its clients.
During
the third quarter SAP posted Latin America sales growth of 50 percent for
software and cloud subscription solutions. Software sales grew of 37 percent.
While impressive, SAP executives point out the eye-catching news that 75
percent of those revenues came from new products that SAP didn’t have
three-and-a-half years ago such as Hana in-memory database and cloud business.
Outside
of Mexico it boasts such Latin American clients as Bancolombia and Grupo Aval in
Colombia and Venezuelan food and beverage company Empresas Polar, Banesco and
PDVSA in Venezuela.
REAL ESTATE: FIBRA UNO,
MEXICO
What
a year it has been for Mexican real estate investment trust (REIT) Fibra UNO,
which owns office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use properties.
In
the third quarter revenues doubled to 1.1 billion pesos (US$80.6 million).
During the first nine months of the year, profits reached 2.1 billion pesos
(US$157.3 million) which also represents a near-doubling from the same period
in 2012.
On December 13, 2013 it made its debut on the debt market, issuing 8.5 billion pesos (US$652 million) through the local market. The deal marks the first time a Mexican REIT issued debt in the capital markets and is the largest debut for a corporate issuer, according to DLA Piper, which advised Fibra UNO. Fibra Uno first listed on the Mexican stock exchange in 2011, but has since placed two follow-on offerings for a total of 34.5 billion pesos, according to Reuters.
That includes raising $1.7 billion in January. Under the terms of the deal, Fibra UNO offered 600
million CBFIs (shares), including an overallotment option.
"The deal marks the first time in Mexico that a company performed a hot deal
option for the base public offer amount," its international legal adviser LA Piper said in a statement.
During
the third quarter Fibra UNO began the construction of Torre Diana, after
reaching an agreement with Reichmann International, its partner in Torre
Mayor and Grupo MF. Torre Diana is a class A+ office building in Mexico
City with a GLA of 63,000 square meters.
It has been steadily expanding its portfolio throughout the year. In August it acquired 34 properties from Finsa for $372 million in partnership with AIG and Walton Street Capital.
As
of September 30, 2013, Fibra Uno had a portfolio of 319 prime properties,
located mainly
in central and southern Mexico.
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