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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (22250)	9/10/2007 10:18:32 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217742

SUGAR RUSH: Ethanol Giants Struggle To Crack Brazil Market Family Owners Hesitate To Sell Out to Big Players; Visit From Google Guys By ANTONIO REGALADO and GRACE FAN September 10, 2007; Page A1 online.wsj.com excerpt: Thanks to high oil prices and worries over global warming, multinational companies are straining to find ways into Brazil's booming market for biofuels -- renewable fuels made from crops such as corn and sugar cane. The U.S. and other countries hope to substitute as much as 15% of domestic gasoline for ethanol over the next decade. With ample land, low production costs and ethanol-production experience, Brazil is viewed by many as the country best able to sate world demand. A clutch of potential investors have descended here, including commodities giants, hedge-funds and energy companies. Even the founders of Google Inc. came to have a look. But the global millions are colliding with an earthy reality: families like Mr. Junqueira Franco's that have controlled Brazil's sugar-cane wealth for decades, even centuries. Many don't want to sell; others are asking sky-high prices for operations riddled with problems. The standoff is preventing some big foreign players from getting into Brazil's promising ethanol market through acquisitions, forcing them to develop their own projects from scratch. Yet resistance to outsiders could affect how quickly larger amounts of cheap Brazilian ethanol can begin flowing into the world's auto fleet. Big companies, which have better access to credit and capital, could also help consolidate, modernize and expand Brazil's ethanol industry. Frustrated investors are easy to find. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the largest U.S. ethanol producer, has been shopping here for more than three years. Global sugar traders such as Australia's CSR Ltd. and Germany's Südzucker AG have met with high prices and lengthy negotiations. India's largest sugar and ethanol maker, Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd., announced plans a year ago to spend $500 million to acquire mills. After several months of courting mill owners at their expansive ranchlike fazendas, the company has struck out. "I have been to a lot of nice houses," says Prem Bajaj, a Bajaj business-development executive.

To: elmatador who wrote (22250)	9/11/2007 2:13:13 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 217742

Lula visits Nordic countries ? Taste for Lute fish ? I expect looking for FDI. Next move: Invite CEOs, bankers, etc. to visit Brazil... in January. When they executives get back to the Nordic countries in the middle of February, investing in Brazil will seem like a REALLY GOOD IDEA. Lula is smart to look for investment where every he can get it - so Brazil is not over dependent on the US, Germany, and China for FDI.