Hyundai operates in 3 shifts in Piracicaba’s highly automated plant

Hyundai achieved a leaner operation at its plant in Piracicaba, São Paulo, thanks to the high level of automation reached after $700 million in investments. The Korean company faces fewer problems of excess labor than most competitors because of the pandemic and is the only car manufacturer in Brazil to have resumed its three shifts — the Piracicaba plant, which was built eight years ago, is using 90% of capacity. Last year, each automotive industry employee produced, on average, 27.6 vehicles. Hyundai managed to produce 72.8 vehicles per employee, one of the best rates in the sector in Brazil.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Online marketplace B2W creates incentives to attract new sellers

B2W, owner of brands like Submarino, Shoptime and Americanas.com, announced new incentives to attract sellers to its online marketplaces. The firm informed that will not charge for fulfillment services (storage and delivery) on Black Friday. In addition, the company announced that it will not charge a commission on sales until November and on freight until the end of 2020. Out of B2W’s 70,000 sellers, only 908 operate under the fulfillment system. Magazine Luiza and Mercado Libre also put in place incentives to sellers recently.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Emergence aid underpins consumption in poorer regions

The emergency aid helped support consumption, especially of essential goods and services, in the poorest regions of the country, data collected by the Central Bank, payment processor Cielo and Santander shows. It confirms the recovery of activity in the North and Northeast regions but also stresses how fragile the process is. The weight of these regions in Brazil’s GDP is still small and, since they need federal funds, the resumption depends on the expected changes in the emergency benefit devised to help informal workers during the covid-19 crisis. In its regional bulletin, the Central Bank said that in the average of the first three weeks of July, consumption was 37% higher in the North region than before the pandemic. Northeast and Central-West grew 16%, while South and Southeast expanded 1% and 2%, respectively. The report shows that poorer cities saw, on July 20, a level of recovery of sales with debit cards stronger than that of the richer cities. In the North and Northeast regions, the difference between the recovery of consumption in poorer and richer cities was greater.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Rede D’Or São Luiz closer to IPO

Hospital group Rede D’Or São Luiz hired Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, BTG Pactual, Bradesco BBI and XP Investimentos to coordinate its initial public offering (IPO) expected to happen in October. The goal is to raise between R$12 billion and R$15 billion, putting its market valuation at R$100 billion. Based in Rio de Janeiro, the group was founded and controlled by the Moll family.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Avenue buys Coin, targets Brazilian investors

US-based brokerage firm Avenue agreed to buy the securities distributor Coin. After emerging with the purpose of enabling applications of Brazilian investors in the US market, Avenue now intends to expand operations to include products in Brazil. The value of the transaction was not revealed. The acquisition still must be approved by the Central Bank and there is no deadline for this to happen. When it does, Brazil’s operation will be headed by Carlos Ambrósio, current president of Anbima, the association of securities firms, and a partner of Avenue since the launch of the brokerage house in 2019. The firm’s goal is to have 1 million clients in four years — Avenue has now 140,000, mostly Brazilians, and $400 million in clients’ assets.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Grain production projected to grow 8% pushed by soybeans and corn

The Brazilian grain production should grow 8% to 278.7 million tonnes in the 2020/21 crop, a record pushed by soybeans and corn, the National Supply Company (Conab) says in its first projections for the new season. If the weather allows and the scenario is confirmed, it will be the third consecutive increase, and the harvest will be almost 116 million tonnes higher (71.2%) than that of the 2010/11 season (162.8 million tonnes). Soybean production is expected to reach 133.5 million tonnes, up 7.2% from 2019/20, while corn harvest is likely to increase to 112.9 million tonnes.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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CyberLabs raises R$28m from VC firm Redpoint

CyberLabs, a Rio de Janeiro-based artificial intelligence company, will raise R$28 million from the venture capital and equity firm Redpoint eventures. The agreement is expected to be unveiled this Tuesday. It’s CyberLabs’s first fundraising since its foundation in 2017. The acquired stake was not disclosed but Redpoint typically buys 15% to 25% of its targets. For three years, CyberLabs has been developing ways to use artificial intelligence in digital identification of people. “We want to create the digital identity of 200 million Brazilians,” says CyberLabs founder and CEO Marcelo Sales.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Raízen-Femsa JV plans 500 new convenience stores in 3 years

Nós, a joint venture between Raízen Combustíveis and Femsa Comercio, has put in motion an aggressive business plan to open at least 500 points of sale in three years in the Southeast region. The JV has taken over the operation of Shell Select convenience stores and will operate under the brand OXXO. “We are building an expansion machine within the company,” Nós CEO Rodrigo Patuzzo told Valor. The first two units under the OXXO brand in Brazil will open in Campinas, São Paulo, on December 1. Femsa is the leading convenience store operator in Latin America with more than 18,000 OXXO units.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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Soybean farmers expect new records for planted area, production

Brazilian soybean farmers are preparing to set new records during the 2020/21 season, whose sowing will begin next month, encouraged by substantial profit margins in the last crop, when the planted area and harvest reached the highest levels since records began and prices are propped up by the weaker real. In the 2019/20 cycle, according to the National Supply Company (Conab), planted areas reached 36.9 million hectares and production totaled 120.9 million tonnes. For 2020/21, available estimates point growth of at least 2.7% and 6.9%, respectively. The most optimistic analysts believe harvest growth could be of almost 10%. In all scenarios, Brazil will continue to be the largest soybean producer.

Source: Valor International

https://www.valor.com.br/international/briefs

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