Brazil's takeover volumes up 43.2% in 1H of 2010

The mergers and acquisitions in Brazil amounted to 84.8 billion reais (48.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, up 43.2 percent year on year, an industry association said Wednesday.

The figures were the highest recorded since 2006, and represented 71.3 percent of the volumes registered in the entire year of 2009, the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (Anbima) said.

Anbima expects mergers and acquisitions to reach a record-high level this year, surpassing the 136.5 billion reais (78 billion dollars) registered in 2007.

The acquisitions of foreign companies by Brazilian companies accounted for 46.6 percent of the total operations in the period, which according to Anbima indicated an increase of Brazilian companies' participation in global buying.

Takeover between Brazilian companies was 21 percent of the total, while the acquisitions of Brazilian companies by foreign rivals were 19.8 percent.

The biggest transaction registered during the period was the joint venture between Shell and Cosan, reaching 11.6 billion reais (6.62 billion dollars), followed by the acquisition of Vale's aluminum assets by Norsk Hydro for 8.5 billion reais (4.85 billion dollars), and Vale's acquisition of Bunge for 7 billion reais (4 billion dollars).

Source: Xinhua