By Luciana Magalhaes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian firms are scoping out acquisition targets in Argentina, whereas beefing up workers and shops in a cautious wager on President Javier Milei’s aggressive financial reforms which might be starting to stabilize the crisis-stricken financial system.
Brazilian corporations, together with client items, providers, oil and tech, informed Reuters they need to launch new ventures or drafting growth plans in Argentina, which is rising from years of financial chaos that had deterred funding.
Milei’s powerful austerity measures have helped tamp down triple-digit inflation, overturn a deep deficit and rebuild reserves, boosting investor confidence. However the nation remains to be digging out of recession, whereas capital controls complicate enterprise.
“Argentina is again on the radar,” stated Rodrigo Stefanini, CEO of Latin American operations at Stefanini Group, a Brazilian multinational expertise firm with world revenues projected to have reached some 8 billion reais ($1.4 billion) final yr.
The corporate’s annual gross sales jumped 15% in Argentina final yr and its workforce grew 10% to round 1,500 individuals. The CEO informed Reuters the agency is taking a look at Argentine acquisition targets for the primary time since getting into the nation in 1996, regardless of an financial outlook that continues to be unsure.
“You do not wish to be the primary to reach on the celebration, as a result of you do not know if will probably be successful. However you additionally do not wish to be the final, as a result of the drinks could also be completed,” Stefanini stated with a smile.
“It is time to benefit from it, earlier than the arrival of the Chinese language and the Individuals.”
Proximity and the perks of the regional Mercosur commerce bloc have usually put Brazilian firms forward of the curve in driving the common booms and busts of the Argentine financial system, though a number of corporations have additionally been burned.
Round 150 main Brazilian corporations have maintained a gradual presence in Argentina, though a few of these have scaled again operations through the years, in response to the Sao Paulo-based Brazil-Argentina Chamber of Commerce.
Federico Servideo, the chamber’s president, stated Brazilian firms are watching financial developments and coverage adjustments – probably together with a loosening of forex controls – earlier than ramping up capital investments within the subsequent 12-36 months.
“There’s certainly a reversal in expectations from Brazilian traders,” stated Servideo.
FULL RETURN TO ARGENTINA?
Brazil’s state-run oil agency Petrobras is contemplating a brand new wager on Argentina after signing a memorandum of understanding with Argentine peer YPF final September to discover joint investments in exploration and manufacturing.
