Brazil Court Approves Eletrobras Privatization; Ecuador’s Lasso to Attend Americas Summit

Bloomberg Línea — The Brazilian government has received the green light from a federal court to move ahead with the privatization of electric power utility Eletrobras, the country’s largest power generation company.

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso confirmed Thursday that he will attend the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June. “The summit is the opportunity to hug President (Joe) Biden and talk about what we share: how to lead a post-pandemic economy,” said Lasso, who participated in the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Latin America, held this week in Panama City.

On the stock markets, Colombia’s COLCAP index put in the worst performance in the region on Thursday, followed by Argentina’s Merval (MERVAL). Colombia’s main index was dragged down by the shares of Grupo Nutresa (NUTRESA), which continue to fall after a third takeover bid launched by Grupo Gilinski was declared void this week.

Following is a roundup of Thursday’s news from Bloomberg Línea and Bloomberg reporters across Latin America.

Argentina:

• Bioceres Crop Solutions (BIOX), an Argentine agricultural technology company that is trying to convince the world to consume genetically modified (GM) wheat, is in talks with craft beer producer Rabieta to brew the first ever GM beer.

Brazil:

• The government has got the green light from a federal court to move ahead with the privatization of electric power utility Eletrobras (ELET3 ; ELET6), the country’s largest power generation company.

Chile:

• Chile’s SQM, one of the world’s leading lithium producers, said it is likely to increase its investment spending after posting record sales of the battery metal in first quarter. The Santiago-based firm reported net income of $796.1 million, easily surpassing industry estimates.

Colombia:

• Avianca Airlines will seek to fly to Venezuela from Colombia again, after having suspended the route in 2017, and has already request the necessary permits from Colombia’s aviation authorities. Avianca, which recently announced that it will add low-cost airlines Viva Air in Colombia and Gol in Brazil to its holding, is considering resuming its operation sbetween Bogotá and Caracas.

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Ecuador:

• Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso confirmed Thursday that he will attend the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June. “The summit is the opportunity to hug President (Joe) Biden and talk about what we share: how to lead a post-pandemic economy,” said Lasso, who participated in the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Latin America, held this week in Panama City.

El Salvador:

• A partial disconnection of the regional electric grid caused an electrical outage that left much of El Salvador in the dark Wednesday night, and also impacted Guatemala and Honduras.

Honduras:

• Honduras has expressed interest in becoming the 21st member of Latin American development bank CAF, and the multilateral organization’s board of directors will meet in Panama City on July 19 to discuss the request.

Mexico:

• Fuel trading company Vitol has revealed the names of officials in state oil company Pemex who allegedly accepted bribes, after reaching an agreement with the U.S. government to pay compensation for alleged acts of corruption. López Obrador said his government will proceed with investigations against those involved, and thanked Vitol for naming names.

Uruguay:

• Uruguay plans to issue a new type of sustainability linked bond, possibly as soon as the third quarter of this year, when it accesses global debt markets for the first time, according to a senior member of the government’s economic team.

Venezuela:

• The lifting of sanctions against Venezuela by the United States remains subject to concrete steps toward free elections and the opening of democratic spaces, Juan Gonzalez, a senior director of the White House National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere,said during the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway in Panama City.