The 2ndLatin America Mid-East Investors Forum (LA-MEIF)
Co-hosted by The Gulf Latin AmericaLeaders Council & LatinFinance
The FairmontBab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi
April 26th-27th, 2010
Draft Agenda
08.00 – 09.00 / Registration and Coffee09:00 – 09:05 / Welcome: Stuart Allen, CEO, LatinFinance
09.05 – 09.20 / Introductory Address: Enrique García, President, Corporacíon Andina de Fomento (CAF)
09.20 – 09.35 / Gulf Keynote Address
09.40 – 10.40 / Gulf-Latin America: A Mutually Beneficial Partnership
With the global economy evolving of crisis, a panel of Latin American and GCC business leaders and investors will discuss emerging opportunities for the two regions to engage in bilateralinvestment and trade.This opening panel will explore how improvements in economic management, access to financing, and rapid economic growth have resulted in richer and more stable investment environmentsin both regions. Panelists will examine the origins, pace and direction of these developments and set the context for the day’s discussions on opportunities for partnerships between the GCC and Latin America.
- What are the growth prospects for the key economies of Latin America and of the Gulf?
- How can the leading sectors in the Gulf compliment the growth of Latin America’s leading sectors and vice versa?
- What investments and/or partnerships currently exist between the GCC and Latin America and why have they been successful?
- What countries, industries and sectors present the most attractive opportunities over the medium-term?
Stuart Allen, CEO, LatinFinance
Panelists include:
Mark Cutis, Chief Investment Officer – Global Special Situation Group, Abu DhabiInvestment Council (ADIC)
Stephen Swanson, Chief Legal Officer, InvestAD
10:40 – 11.40 / Discussion Group A: Latin American Issuers & the Role of Gulf Investors in their Benchmark Deals
The capital needs of Latin American companies have increased in step with the rapid development of the region’s domestic economies generating a swathe of investible assets. This panel will discuss these assets, their risks, and how Asian investors can efficiently access the inherent investment opportunities.
- Understanding corporate Latin America – which are the leading sectors and who are the high-grade issuers in the current credit environment?
- Evaluating the risks and opportunities in the evolving operating environments for Latin America’s leading sectors?
- Understanding and managing legal and regulatory risk when investing in Latin America
- What will medium-term funding strategies look like – issue size, issue structure, debt, equity, loans – how are they best evaluated and most efficiently accessed by Asian investors
Hugo Sarmiento, Chief Financial Officer, CAF / One-to-One Meetings
Private one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities, designed to engender comprehensive discussion on how to directly and/or indirectly access assets and/or engage in bi-lateral partnerships and investments.
11.40 – 12.30 / Latin American Fund Presentations and Q&A
Two 20-minute interactive presentations each with a leading fund manager, and exploring the how Latin America investment funds enable efficient exposure to leading sectors and high growth assets and allowingquestions from the audience.
Presentation I: Latin America Regional Investment Opportunities
Presentation II: Investing in Latin American Agribusiness Opportunities / One-to-One Meetings
Private one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities.
12:30 – 14:00 / Luncheon
The Latin America Mid-East Investors Forum (LA-MEIF)
[Day 1, cont.]
14:00 – 15.00 / Discussion Group B:Oil, Energy & Renewables
Oil and energy among the leading sectors in both Latin America and the GCC. Development including investment in the creation or renewal of energy infrastructure, the development of newly discovered fields, and the revision of outmoded regulation, the rapid growth of renewables and bio-fuels are leading to an array of investment opportunities between Latin America and the Middle East. This panel will examine and explore opportunities in energy and the strategies that can be used to access them.
- Where do the opportunities exist for foreign direct and portfolio investors?
- How can investors and companies capitalize on the newly emerging oilfields in Brazil and in the energy infrastructure?
- How do local and international indirect investors view the bio-fuels and renewables sectors?
- How to find and to evaluate assets/projects, the underlying assets and their associated risks
Panelists include:
Marcelo Torres, CFO, OGX / One-to-One Meetings
Private one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities, designed to engender comprehensive discussion on how to directly and/or indirectly access assets and/or engage in bi-lateral partnerships and investments.
15.00 –16.00 / Discussion Group C:
Agribusiness & Food
The global comparative advantages of theagribusiness sector, growing demand for food and concerns over food security are underpinning the deeper integration of this sector into global markets. An interactive presentation and group discussion will present the environment for Investing in agribusiness and food products and how these opportunities can link the Gulf and Latin America.
- What does the future hold for agribusiness and is Latin America positioned to reap the benefits?
- What crops and food products present the greatest Gulf-Latam investment and trade opportunities?
- How do agribusiness opportunities compare in Latin America vs. EMEA?
- Is Latin American export infrastructure adequate to meet growing demands?
- Which sectors, products or companies offer the best long-term investment opportunities?
- How will the sector develop amidst the growing interest from foreign investors?
Private one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities, designed to engender comprehensive discussion on how to directly and/or indirectly access assets and/or engage in bi-lateral partnerships and investments.
16.00 – 16.20 / Coffee Break
16:20 – 17.20 / Global Managers Roundtable
There have been profound changes in the world economy and shifts in the balance of economic power and growth. With geographical scope expanding for all investors and new products emerging investors revaluating techniques and strategies. This roundtable will bring together a panel of international investors – SWFs, private equity, hedge fund and real money and assembled from across the globe – to discuss how they believe returns can be maximised and risks managed in today’s markets.
- How should "emerging managers” source permanent capital in the post crisis world? What structures and what approaches work well in today’s markets?
- How should managers differentiate themselves to attract capital?
- How are managers sourcing their ideas in the emerging markets? Is there a "south-south” trade?
- How is risk management different in the emerging markets?
- The diversification benefits of Mid-East-LatAm investments
- How are funds and fund managersefficiently selected and monitored in the post-Madoff era?
Karim Shariff, Founding Principal, Majlis Investment Management
Panelists include:
Iyad Malas, CEO, Majid Al Futtaim Asset Management (MidEast)
William Ng, CEO, J.H. Whitney Investment Management (Asia)
Rushabh Sheth, Director, Antara Asset Management (India)
Funsho Alla, TIA Capital / One-to-One Meetings
Private one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities, designed to engender comprehensive discussion on how to directly and/or indirectly access assets and/or engage in bi-lateral partnerships and investments.
17:30 – 18.30 / Reception
The 2ndLatin America Mid-East Investors Forum (LA-MEIF)
Day Two
08.00 – 09.00 / Coffee09:00 – 09:05 / Welcoming Remarks
09.05 – 09.20 / Latin American Keynote Address
09.20 – 10.20 / Discussion Group D:
Infrastructure & Urban Planning
An interactive discussiontaking a look at the creation and/or re-creation of cities such as Abu Dhabi, Bogota, Dubai, Santiago in recent years. A panel of leaders will examine the environment for investing in urban infrastructure and how these opportunities can be efficiently accessed either directly or indirectly.
- How are flows of private sector capital to transport, power, water, power and energy infrastructure being encouraged by Government?
- How are the development of infrastructure and evolution of consumer demographics generating compellinginvestment opportunities?
- What opportunities and projects are in the pipeline, in what sectors and what countries?
- How are these opportunities best evaluated: cash-flow stability; low maintenance rates; political/appropriation and other risks; long-term and high-quality?
- How are infrastructure assets most efficiently accessed: direct equity participation, dedicated funds, indirect equity investment.
Private 1-on-1 meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities, designed to engender comprehensive discussion on how to directly and/or indirectly access assets and/or engage in bi-lateral partnerships and investments.
10.20 – 11.20 / Discussion Group E:
Private Equity Opportunities
Apanel of leading fund managersexploreprivate equity investment in Latin America, how PE funds can provide efficient exposure to leading sectors and high growth assets, andthe role PE can play in the diversification of a global portfolio.
- Why private equity in Latin America is an attractive opportunity and where are the key opportunities by market and sector?
- What are the appropriate strategies for accessing private equity investments in Latin America?
- How are funds, managers and their strategies best evaluated?
- Global v regional v sector-specific funds.
Azmat Taufique, Managing Director, Investcorp / One-to-One Meetings
Private and confidential one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities.
11.20 – 11:40 / Coffee Break
11:40 – 12.30 / Corporate Presentations and Q&A
Two 20-minute interactive presentations on the opportunities in some of Latin America’s leading companies exploring how Mid–East investors, co-investors or partners can efficiently access leading sectors and high growth assets.
Presentation I:M&A and Private Equity Investment in Brazil
Presentation II: Investing Power and Energy Assets in South America / One-to-One Meetings
Private and confidential one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities.
12.30 – 13.30 / Discussion Group F:
Real Estate, Hotels, Hospitality & Tourism
A panel of leading financiers and real-estate developers, financiers, hoteliers and developers will discuss financing strategies and investment and partnership opportunities in the key segments of one of Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s most rapidly growing sectors.
- What successful Gulf-Latam investments and/or partnerships currently exist in real estate and/or Hotels?
- Where and how can investors capitalize on the growing opportunities to build, manage and operate hotels and resorts in Latin America and the Caribbean?
- How can Gulf investors benefit from the ongoing process of restructuring and consolidation in hotels and hospitality?
- How can Gulf investors benefit from the ongoing process of consolidation in the real-estate sector?
- Evaluating opportunities in the myriad sub-sectors – low-income, shopping malls, resorts, hotels, logistics etc.
- What are the most efficient strategies for accessing these segments – direct, funds, equity, MBS, debt securities?
- René Beil, Principal, Beaufort Global Partners
Private and confidential one-on-one meetings for participating Latin American and Gulf-based entities.
13.30 / Conclusions and Closing Remarks: Stuart Allen, CEO, LatinFinance