Hi anializer - Of the companies you listed Bunge (NYSE:BG) looks the most interesting to me. They have business operations in both Brazil and Argentina. They supply 23% of the fertilizer to the local farmers which is locally mined from company owned facilities. They provide 100% credit based financing on forward production contracts so they have a lot more at risk if their is crop failure. Here is an interesting overview of the company wikinvest.com. The company is not a screaming buy with a forward PE of 11 which is about average for the industry. BG is up over 35% from the beginning of the year. However, if the long term global commodity boom continues, BG would provide a reasonable way to participate in this growth.
The thing that caught my attention are their expansion plans they have for their Argentina operations. They have plans to expand their port facility and either own or operate (in partnership) much of the rail distribution infrastructure to deliver their fertilizer and export their contracted crop production.
The disruptive change that this region is experiencing is the movement of commodities (fertilizer input and crop production output). The current infrastructure can not support the new demand and this may be the growth and value opportunity.
All America Latina Logistica SA may be worth exploring. It's traded on the BOVESPA (São Paulo Stock Exchange) and there are no ADR's available.
all-logistica.com
ALL owns and operates a large asset base, including a rail network that extends 21,300 kilometers of rail tracks, 1,050 locomotives, 30,000 railcars, 1,000 highway vehicles (trucks and trailers owned directly by ALL or by associate truckers), distribution centers and warehousing facilities. In addition, real estate leased to the Company pursuant to its concessions includes properties that are available for construction and development of warehouses and logistics terminals in Brazil and Argentina. The most important of these properties comprise the more than one million square meters in industrial areas of Buenos Aires. The Company´s leased property provides significant opportunities to further expand its asset base in ways that allow it to enhance its logistics and other service offerings.
ALL is one of the major share holders of Santa Fe Vagoes. They are well positioned to participate in the infrastructure growth for the region.
On The Right Track
usitoday.com
Santa Fé Vagões hasn't even completed two years of existence but it already has a prominent role in Brazil's blossoming economy: it produces a lot of the new railcars that are carrying everything, from iron-ore and soybeans to cement and steel rods, around the country and into ports to be exported.
================================================================
América Latina Logística may provide a good growth & value opportunity long term. The investment would be through these units finance.yahoo.com I am still researching the company but they do appear to carry a high debt to equity ratio when compared to the US rails. This is because the company is spending large dollars to upgrade and expand their operations throughout Brazil and Argentina. The company owns a lot of long term real estate leases which are not reflected in the current market value.
EKS |
