Top 100 M&A's: Brazil Boom

BY CHRONICLE STAFF

Chilean department store chain Falabella's acquisition of D&S, the country's largest supermarket chain, was the largest announced M&A deal last year, according to the latest Latin America's Top 100 M&A ranking from Latin Business Chronicle and Thomson Financial.

The purchase, valued at $4.5 billion, is expected to finalize in the first quarter this year and will create Latin America's second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart de Mexico, according to Bloomberg.

Last year was a mixed year for Latin American mergers and acquisitions. Overall, the value of M&A deals barely increased, but the number of deals grew strongly. And while announced M&A deals in Mexico fell, they grew in Brazil.  

The total value of announced M&A's in Latin American reached $126.2 billion last year, an increase of 0.47 percent from 2006, according to Thomson Financial data analyzed by Latin Business Chronicle. The number of deals reached 1,505, an increase of 64.3 percent.

The top 10 announced deals in Latin America reached $28.5 billion, which was a 49.4 percent decline from 2006. However, the 2006 figure was skewed...

Full story

Keywords: Argentina, Brazil, Casino, Chile, Citigroup, Colombia, Ecopetrol, Grupo Imsa, ICA, Ipiranga, Mexico, OGX Petroleo, Peterson Group, Scotiabank, Sistema Minas-Rio, Ternium, YPF