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Latin America’s largest economy probably shrank for a third consecutive quarter, as rising unemployment and higher inflation sapped domestic demand, pulling the nation deeper into recession. Gross domestic product contracted 1.2 percent in the three months ended in September, according to the median estimate of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That would mark the first... Continue Reading →
Grupo BTG Pactual SA plunged Monday after Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves was jailed indefinitely and resigned all of his posts at the firm he helped build. The bank’s leaders spent the weekend in emergency talks to sell assets and acquire his controlling stake. Shares tumbled as much as 14 percent in Sao Paulo, extending the... Continue Reading →
When a world-renowned banker and a congressman were busted last week as part of the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history, the international spotlight naturally fell on the young tycoon, Andre Esteves. Yet to long-time Brazil watchers, it was the detention of the legislator -- a ruling party dealmaker named Delcidio Amaral -- that marked... Continue Reading →
Brazilian builder Andrade Gutierrez will confess to paying bribes for 2014 FIFA World Cup contracts and business with state-run companies Petrobras and Eletrobras, a newspaper report said on Friday. Andrade Gutierrez agreed with Brazil's prosecutor-general and other investigators to pay a fine of 1 billion reais ($270 million) in a plea deal covering the company... Continue Reading →
Brazil's economy probably shrank at the fastest annual pace on record in the third quarter, crippled by a combination of government budget cuts, rising inflation and political gridlock, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. Gross domestic product in Latin America's largest economy likely contracted 1.2 percent in the third quarter from the second BRGDP=ECI... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s real is on course to end the week lower as the Wednesday arrest of a ruling-party senator threatens to sidetrack President Dilma Rousseff’s economic agenda. The arrest of the government’s leader in the Senate, Delcidio Amaral, has delayed voting on a new fiscal target that would allow the government to end 2015 with a... Continue Reading →
President Dilma Rousseff’s austerity program to fix Brazil's shaky finances is again in trouble after her point man in the Senate was arrested in a widening corruption scandal, and it could reignite calls for her impeachment. "The arrest felt like a nuclear bomb here in the presidential palace," said a Rousseff aide who asked... Continue Reading →
The chief executive of Brazil's biggest independent investment bank and the leading senator in the governing coalition were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of obstructing the country's most sweeping corruption investigation ever. The detention of such prominent power brokers on orders from the Supreme Court raised the stakes dramatically in a bribery scandal that started... Continue Reading →
Within hours of the arrest of BTG Pactual Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andre Esteves on Wednesday, the bank’s stock was down as much as 39 percent and the bonds 20 percent. The rationale behind that initial panic was this: Without Esteves, the billionaire executive who’s widely considered to be one of Brazil’s most-talented bankers,... Continue Reading →
By Martin Langfield November 25, 2015 The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. The news from Brazil will get worse before it gets better. The arrest of billionaire banker André Esteves suggests room for further nasty surprises from the Petrobras corruption probe. The roughly $2 trillion economy, Latin America’s biggest,... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 