Azul celebrates first flight in Rio-São Paulo “air bridge”

Azul CEO John Rodgerson personally attended a ceremony in Congonhas, the urban airport of São Paulo, to launch the company’s first flight of the heavily trafficked “air bridge” shuttle between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Amid decorative balloons and with a band playing Brazilian music, Mr. Rodgerson boasted that “we thought nearly 11 years to enter this market.” The executive later helped serve refreshments to passengers and asked their impressions. The company will use Embraer E195 jets carrying 118 passengers in the route.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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Kaszek Ventures raises $600m fund for Latam startups

Kaszek Ventures, a venture capital fund created by Mercado Livre’s founders, has raised $600 million to invest in Latin American startups. The money is going to two new funds: $375 million for Kaszek Ventures IV, geared toward early-stage companies, and $225 million for Kaszek Ventures Opportunity I, which will make follow-on investments in portfolio companies. Among the over 70 companies receiving investments from the fund, which has already raised $1 billion since its inception in 2011, are Nubank, QuintoAndar, Gympass, Loggi and Creditas.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

 

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AC Camargo invests R$360m in cancer treatment units in São Paulo

Hospital A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, a chain of oncology clinics, is investing R$360 million in four new outpatient units in the city of São Paulo, which perform procedures such as chemotherapy and low and medium complexity surgeries. A.C. Camargo has only two outpatient units and the goal of the expansion is to create a care network with this model, since most cancer treatments do not require a highly complex hospital structure. “We follow the model adopted in US cancer center hospitals that have outpatient units and use an integrated treatment model, that is, the oncologist and doctors in other specialties work together,” said Vivien Rosso, general superintendent of AC Camargo, which is funding the expansion out of pocket. In 2018, the hospital had net revenues of R$1.3 billion and served 131,000 patients. One-quarter of cancer patients in São Paulo are treated at A.C. Camargo, which sees 10,000 new cases every year.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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New auctions will replace oil-fired power plants with gas ones

The government will resume plans to hold new auctions of electricity generation to replace a group of oil and dieselfired plants totaling 3,000 megawatts whose contracts expire in 2024. The auctions would only hire gas-fired capacity, which has lower costs and pollutes less, precisely as officials try to liberalize the gas market and promote an overall decline in its costs. The Mines and Energy Ministry’s Electricity Secretary, Ricardo Cyrino, says the government will start holding public hearings in the next few days to discuss the proposal. The idea is to hold an “A4” auction in 2020, with power supplies beginning in 2024.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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Petrobras begins book building for R$3bn bond issue

Petrobras started accepting investment applications for its R$3 billion debenture issue, which is expected to serve as a barometer of demand for infrastructure-linked bonds whose returns include a percentage of the Certificate of Interbank Deposit (CDI) rate. The issue comprises three tranches, two of them consisting of income-tax exempt infrastructure bonds returning official inflation gauge IPCA plus 3.60% (10 years) and another offering IPCA plus 3.90% over 15 years. The third tranche is the CDI-linked one and matures in seven years. Eleven Investimentos analysts Frederico Khouri and Odilon Costa warned in a report that the third tranche features an “unattractive” relationship between risk, return and liquidity given the outlook of declining interest rates.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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Cielo expands into banking services with app for small entrepreneurs

Merchant acquirer Cielo launched an app called Cielo Pay offering digital account and wallet for small entrepreneurs. It’s yet another step of the company to provide more services to merchants and their clients. But analysts question the wisdom of that since two banks already control the company, Banco do Brasil and Bradesco. “We didn’t work with entrepreneurs before and, in September, Cielo should celebrate the sale of 1 million [point-ofsale] machines. We aggressively entered this segment and should continue so,” Cielo chief Paulo Caffarelli told reporters. The company considers as entrepreneurs clients with annual revenue of up to R$240,000 and transaction volume of growth of 40% a year, compared with the market average of 17%.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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Macron wants to reopen EU-Mercosur trade deal

Amid the diplomatic conflict between Brazil and France, French President Emmanuel Macron said he intends to reopen negotiations for the free-trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur. The EU-Mercosur agreement is in process of legal review and translation, which may last until March. But Mr. Macron seems determined to review it, claiming President Jair Bolsonaro doesn’t respect environmental commitments. He also announced the G-7 will provide a $50 million financial package to help the Amazon. Mr. Bolsonaro was ironic about the offer, saying nobody provides such help without expecting something in return. “What do they want [in the Amazon]?”

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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São Paulo’s Metrô plans to reduce loss and state funding

São Paulo’s subway system, the Metrô, plans to reduce its dependence on the state government and start turning a profit from 2020, said CEO Silvani Alves Pereira, who took office in January. Last year, the company had a loss of R$519 million – and negative results in nine of the last ten years. The last time it recorded a profit was in 2014, of R$86.8 million. In addition, the state injects billions of reais every year to finance the subway’s expansion – in 2018, it pumped R$2.57 billion. The idea now is to make the subway contribute more financially to the works. The plan includes measures to reduce costs and expand so-called non-fare revenues.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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Government hopes to unfreeze up to R$15bn by September

Budget officials hope to unfreeze R$10 billion to R$15 billion in ministry earmarks by next September, sources say. The order could arrive on September 22, the scheduled date of the following assessment report of federal revenues and expenses for July-August. The government believes tax collections will rise above expectations, and is counting on dividends from state-owned companies. Tax receipts (excluding pension dues) were R$5 billion above projections in July, while dividends could reach R$13 billion from the R$8 billion initially budgeted. Officials are also considering other options to soften the R$34 billion budget freeze of this year.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

 

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São Paulo’s Citi to host Davos Forum research unit

The secondary share offering of Banco do Brasil, currently expected to take place by early October, could be as big as R$8 billion considering the closing price on Thursday of R$46.65. In addition to shares held by FI-FGTS, the investment vehicle of the Workers’ Severance Fund, and anything beyond what the federal government needs to control the lender, BB is even considering the sale of shares held in treasury, Valor confirmed with three sources familiar with the matter. Selling the latter lot requires board approval, however.

Source: Valor Econômico

http://www.valor.com.br/international

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