Brazil may have fallen off the investment map for many global brands, but South America’s largest economy still holds vast opportunity with the right plans to navigate bureaucracy, cultural challenges and complex market dynamics, experts said at an Atlanta investment seminar in October.
While its political situation is has stabilized a bit, Brazil has seen high inflation and devaluation of the real versus the dollar in recent years.
These same trends have forced many Brazilian firms to accelerate their international plans, at times aided Brazilian government organizations like ApexBrasil and SECOM, which help them gain a presence at global trade shows like so-called poultry show (IPPE) held in Atlanta each year.
Many are looking for outside sources of dollar-denominated capital, says Ron Slotin, who helps Brazilian firms raise funds through his firm, Brazil USA Capital.
“I’ve never seen more opportunities cross-border than what we have going on now,” Mr. Slotin said during an event organized by Connect Solutions with support from ApexBrasil, the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast and the World Trade Center Atlanta in a conference room at the Brazilian consulate in Atlanta last October.
The increased appetite for U.S. equity investment accompanies the focus on outward global growth, he said.
“They’re looking to raise capital through selling 5 to 50 percent equity in their company, which gives them money to operate in the U.S. and expand internationally elsewhere in the world,” Mr. Slotin said.
Georgia has been a beneficiary of the outbound trend, particularly in the southern part of the state where agribusiness firms like Forquimica and manufacturers like the Guidoni Group and CZM have increasingly established a presence.
Ron Durchfort, a global investor helping consumer brands enter Latin America through Alon Global, a consultancy, said the interest goes both ways, but patience in Brazil is…
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